


I Don't Know Where To Go From Here

by WalkingBumperSticker34



Series: Can't Keep My Eyes Off Of You [2]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, American Football Player Nicole Haught, Basketball Player Nicole Haught, Cheerleader Waverly Earp, Coming Out, F/F, Slow Burn, Supportive Earp Siblings (Wynonna Earp), Wayhaught - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:34:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 23,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25788901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WalkingBumperSticker34/pseuds/WalkingBumperSticker34
Summary: Just the continuation of another WayHaught High School AU that no one asked for lolWaverly Earp's world was turned upside down when Nicole Haught moved to Purgatory for freshman year. Neither one could have predicted their first year of high school to be the roller coaster ride it was but neither one seemed to be getting off either.What happens when these two girls discover that maybe what we plan for ourselves isn't always what life has planned for us? That maybe the best things in life are the surprises it throws at us and not knowing what journey leads to our happy ending?
Relationships: Nicole Haught & Chrissy Nedley, Waverly Earp & Chrissy Nedley, Waverly Earp & Wynonna Earp, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Xavier Dolls & Wynonna Earp
Series: Can't Keep My Eyes Off Of You [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1202236
Comments: 59
Kudos: 153





	1. Chapter One: Sophomore Year- Changing of the Tides

**Author's Note:**

> GUESS WHO IS BACK BITCHES?!?!
> 
> Earpers!!!! I missed you all so much! I can't believe we finally got our show back and guess what? It gets even better now because I am back as well with brand new content this time!
> 
> I AM SO EXCITED to share the continuation of my high school AU and sophomore year with you all! If you guys have stuck around, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I know it has been a long time coming but if Earpers have anything it is patience when it comes to new content of what they love <3
> 
> If you are new here, PLEASE make sure you go read the first part of this series called "You Got My Head Spinning" otherwise none of this will make sense at all!!!
> 
> I honestly can't believe it has been almost a year since I posted that update telling you guys that I was writing again....life has been absolutely fucking crazy and I'm sorry it took this long! I'm back in a good headspace and I have my motivation and those 2 things combined I think will help me keep this thing going again :) that being said, it will be a moment before I post again because I have to write the chapter yet so there will not be a regular schedule of updating but I wanted you guys to have this chapter ASAP!
> 
> Honestly I'm sure at this point if you are still reading you are like shut the fuck up and let's get to it so without further ado, here is the start of SOPHOMORE YEAR!!!!!
> 
> ENJOY EARPERS! <3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Sophomore Year and all the confusion that comes with getting older! Prepare for all the angst you could possibly imagine as we wrap up the very end of summer, jump into the first day of the new school year, and find out that all expectations of how it was going to go have completely been thrown out the window. Lots of interactions amongst lots of characters, sports, and the introduction of a very important new character! Buckle up for the roller coaster of emotions this chapter takes you on...you have been warned!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not gonna bog you down with a lot in here this time because I'm sure you are all excited to just get reading!
> 
> Just an FYI, I made this chapter worth the wait for you guys though as it is the 2nd longest chapter to date!!! You are welcome! :)
> 
> If you want to listen to the full song featured in this chapter the link is right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2U0Ivkn2Ds
> 
> And honestly that's it...get reading Earpers!!! MUCH LOVE <3

The past summer was somehow both the shortest summer of Waverly’s life, and the longest. Due to the essentially unresolved issues between her and Nicole, she spent most of her time alone with nothing but her numerous thoughts to keep her company. Sure Chrissy was around periodically and doing her best to make the summer an enjoyable one, but there was always that lingering emptiness in the pit of Waverly’s stomach reminding her that something, or someone, was missing from it.

Deep down she knew she couldn’t really blame anyone but herself for her current predicament. But there was also another part of her that felt like there wasn’t any blame to be placed when it came to her and Nicole’s relationship. _If I am still trying to figure me out, then how is it completely all my fault? On the other hand, it’s not fair to lead Nicole on if this isn’t something I want. How do I know if this is what I want? Why is this so difficult for me to figure out?_

Wanting to escape her thoughts for a while and with no plans for her Saturday afternoon, Waverly grabs her copy of _The Perks of Being a Wallflower_ and crawls into her nook by her bedroom window. After only about a peaceful thirty minutes of reading, the brunette is jostled from her fictional escape when she hears the sound of a lawnmower starting up. _There is no way the universe is that ridiculous._

Waverly focuses her attention out the window and across the street to catch a glimpse of red as the person disappears from view behind the Haught house. _I swear I will never read anything of significance as long as there is a lawn to be mowed at that residence!_ Waverly shakes her head and laughs to herself as she attempts to bury her nose back in her book. A couple of sentences in, her reading is interrupted again as a light bulb goes off and Waverly sets her book down and heads towards the kitchen.

* * *

If you would have asked Nicole how she thought her first full summer in Purgatory would go, this would not have been what she envisioned. Honestly, if you would have told her this is how her entire freshman year would have gone, she wouldn’t have believed a word you said. She never anticipated meeting a spitfire brunette on the very first day that would turn her whole world upside down. And she sure would have bet money that she would have secured a prominent place in that girl’s life by now if she did.

But as Nicole sits on the edge of her bed contemplating the events that have taken place in the past year, she wishes she would feel more hopeful about where things were heading. The biggest issue at the moment is that she has no idea what is going through Waverly’s head about everything. _She has me all sorts of confused. She gets so close to actually admitting to having feelings for me but then runs away from them as fast as she can. I want...no need...someone who isn’t afraid to choose me._

Wanting to get out of her head, Nicole turns on the local football game that is just about to start and makes herself comfortable by sprawling out on her bed. As she is settling in, she hears the back door close, but thinks nothing of it as she focuses back on the TV. Some time passes, and the game is just about done with the first quarter as she hears the lawnmower start up in the backyard. _What the hell is that woman doing? She never said she wanted that done today._

Nicole reluctantly rolls herself out of bed and makes her way downstairs to the back door. Opening the door just enough, the redhead sticks her head out in an attempt to locate her mother.

“Mom! Where you at?”

A few moments pass by with no response so Nicole yells a little louder, “Ma!”

From the left side of the house Katherine Haught emerges, headphones on, dancing and mowing erratically as she continues to the backyard. Upon seeing this sight, Nicole can’t help but snort as she steps out of the house and moves up behind her mother.

Putting her hands on her shoulder blades and giving her a light push, the younger Haught manages to almost give her mom a heart attack as she turns off the mower and whips around quickly.

“Oh my goodness!” Katherine hastily pushes her headphones down around her neck and turns towards her daughter. “Nicole...was that really necessary?!”

Completely ignoring her question, Nicole gives her mother a disapproving look, “What are you doing out here? You know I offered to always mow the lawn for you; it’s the least I can do.”

“And I just wanted to let you relax today. You have been working hard all summer at the pool and I figured you could use a day to watch your sports and do nothing.”

“While I appreciate that, I should still be the one out here right now, not you.”

As Katherine looks at the stubborn teenager in front of her, arms crossed and not backing down, she can’t help but laugh as she is reminded of someone else she used to know.

“Why are you laughing at me?”

The elder Haught’s face softens as she looks at her daughter, “Because you definitely got your stubbornness from your father. You looked so much like him just now it was uncanny.”

Nicole gives a small smile as she uncrosses her arms, looks down, and shyly puts her hands in her pockets. Looking back up at her mother, she accepts defeat, “I’m not getting my way with this one am I?”

“Fraid not Coley. Now go back inside and relax for one day. School will be starting again soon and you deserve some time for just you.”

The younger redhead lets out an exaggerated sigh, “Fine, I guess I will go back inside.” Nicole turns to head back in the house, “But if you think I got all my stubbornness from my father, then you are sorely mistaken Mother!”

As Katherine watches her only child walk back into the house, she can’t help but laugh to herself. _Oh trust me Nicole, your father and I knew exactly what people who interacted with you would get. No one stands a chance against you getting what you want with the genes you have._

Katherine starts the lawn mower back up, puts her headphones back on, and continues mowing the backyard. She doesn’t get very far when she is once again startled by someone unexpectedly.

* * *

As Waverly makes her way to the kitchen, she heads straight towards the pantry to see what she is working with. Rifling through the shelves to find the necessary ingredients, she is pleasantly surprised to find everything she needs to accomplish her goal. Waverly gathers the supplies in her arms and takes them over to the counter near the oven.

As the brunette is mixing together the ingredients to make sugar cookies, she prays this gesture will end up having the effect she intended on Nicole. _I really hope these cookies will soften her up a little bit. I know I haven’t been completely fair to her but I’m trying. I don’t like that she is so frustrated with me. It’s a pretty awful feeling if I’m completely honest._

Waverly sets the dough on the cookie sheet, then slides the sheet into the oven once it has preheated. While the cookies are baking, she makes a quick pitcher of lemonade to go with them and sits down at the kitchen table awaiting the product of her work. A nervousness starts to wash over her as the minutes pass by, as Waverly realizes this is the longest she has gone without really seeing Nicole since they first met outside the principal’s office.

_Oh gosh...what if she doesn’t want to see me? What if she is still mad at me? What if I am taking too long to figure things out that she gets tired of me, tired of waiting? What if I’m too late?_

Waverly lets out a small shriek as the timer goes off for the cookies and jolts her out of her current thoughts. She quickly jumps out of her chair and walks over to check on the status of the baked goods. Pulling the cookie sheet out ever so slightly, she sees that the cookies are in fact done and pulls the sheet out to sit on top of the stove.

While the cookies are cooling, Waverly puts together a glass of lemonade for Nicole and once that is completed, places the still warm sugar cookies on a plate. Gathering all the courage she can muster after her internal monologue psyched her out, she walks out of the house and towards the Haught household a few doors down.

As Waverly approaches the house, she still hears the lawn mower coming from the backyard so she slowly makes her way there when she catches that glimpse of red again and another wave of nervousness hits her like a ton of bricks. Slowly rounding the corner of the garage, she almost collides with not only Nicole but also the mower, only to realize that it’s not Nicole at all.

“Oh my! Ms. Haught, I’m so sorry!” Waverly stumbles around the mower and somehow manages to save the cookies. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the lemonade, as she was now wearing it down the front of her shirt.

Katherine quickly shuts off the lawn mower and kneels down to Waverly’s aid, “Waverly! I swear to God I just saw one of your limbs’ lives flash before my eyes! What on Earth are you doing sneaking up on me like that?”

“Ms. Haught, I truly am sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you like that...” the brunette starts to pick herself up off the ground and dusts herself off. “I just thought that you were...”

“Someone else?” Katherine gets a small smirk on her face as she watches the young girl’s face slowly start turning more red as she avoids all eye contact.

Waverly continues looking at the ground, “I mean, yes. But also, I did not think you were going to be right there when I turned the corner so again I’m sorry.”

“Waverly Earp, if you say sorry to me one more time, you are going to be grounded from setting foot on this property.”

Waverly looks up at Katherine with an incredulous grin on her face, “Did you just say you will ground me?”

“You bet I did! And don’t tell me that your aunt Gus would not back me on that one either because I have a sneaking suspicion she would. Now, I see the drink is a lost cause, but what else did you bring over for Nicole?”

“I didn’t just--there not ju--you can have--” Waverly stumbles over her words almost as bad as she physically stumbled a few moments ago before Katherine steps in.

“I’m giving you a hard time Miss Earp. Nicole and I will both surely enjoy these; they are our favorite.” Katherine reaches for and takes the plate from Waverly, “Will you please come inside and we can fix up your shirt a bit?”

Waverly gestures back towards her house, “I mean I’m just over there so it’s not a big deal.”

Katherine gives Waverly her ‘mom look’ and the girl knows she’s a goner, “I don’t care if you were so close you lived in our garage. You are coming in, I’m helping with your shirt, and you are helping us eat some of these cookies too.”

Waverly sighs heavily and follows Katherine to the house and into the kitchen. Katherine grabs a washcloth from the drawer and wets it under the kitchen sink.

Bringing the sopping wet rag towards Waverly, she stops for a moment and then addresses the girl while gesturing towards her own chest, “I’m just gonna let you take care of that.” A light shade of pink washes across Waverly’s face as she takes the cloth from Nicole’s mom. The cloth is by far too wet and Waverly is pretty sure it did more damage than good, but at least she is not sticky on top of being wet.

Feeling somewhat satisfied with her shirt situation, Waverly hands the washcloth back to Katherine and the elder Haught takes it out of the room to put it with the rest of the laundry.

Having heard the commotion downstairs, Nicole hesitantly gets out of bed and goes down to see what company her mother could possibly be having. As she walks down the hallway and comes into view of the kitchen, she can’t believe that Waverly Earp is somehow in her house again.

The redhead comes to a stop in the doorway and takes in the sight in front of her, trying to hold back a laugh. _This girl seems to always be in some sort of mess. What a beautiful mess she is though..._

Nicole crosses her arms and leans against the doorway, smirking. Waverly hears this and turns around as Nicole opens her mouth, “I didn’t know Purgatory had wet t-shirt competitions.”

Waverly feels her face start to get warm as she tries to think of a good comeback, “Only in your dreams there Miss Haught and bothered.”

Nicole straightens up and gets a devilish smile on her face, “That’s where you’re wrong...in my dreams there definitely is no competition.”

Waverly quickly turns around as she feels her face heating up, “You are incorrigible!”

“And you are borderline intrusive always showing up randomly at my house. What are you doing here on a Saturday anyway?”

The brunette gestures towards the plate of sugar cookies sitting on the counter beside her, “I thought I would be neighborly and bring you guys some cookies I made.”

Nicole looks skeptically at Waverly, “How did you know we were home today?”

“Oh, I heard a lawn mower going and looked out the window to see the sound was coming from your place.”

The redhead seemingly accepts this answer until a light bulb goes off and a look of realization washes across the girl’s face, “You thought I was the one mowing today didn’t you?”

Waverly looks up at Nicole with a ‘deer in the headlights’ expression, “I--I mean--I guess I figured it would be you and was surprised when it wasn’t.”

“Just surprised? Or a little disappointed too?” Nicole waggles her eyebrows suggestively.

Waverly scoffs, “Has anyone ever told you how unbelievable you can be?”

Nicole looks at Waverly very matter of factly, “I tell myself that every day!”

The brunette rolls her eyes so hard that Nicole is afraid they might get stuck that way, “If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were never taught how to check your ego. But I know your mother and there’s no way she let that fly.”

Just as Waverly finishes her statement, Katherine walks back into the room, “What is this thing that I wouldn’t let fly?”

Before Waverly can speak, Nicole quickly jumps in, “Oh just not being a good host and asking our guest if there is anything I can get her to drink since she is wearing it now instead.”

“Nicole!” Katherine looks apologetically towards Waverly, “I’m sorry that she seems to have lost her manners completely in this moment but she is going to go find them real quick right now.” The elder Haught turns to Nicole and gives her the ‘mom glare’ too.

Nicole rolls her eyes, but makes sure to do so without her mother seeing and starts walking towards the refrigerator. Speaking over her shoulder, she lists a few options before moving over to the cupboards. Waverly moves up closer and places herself on the side of Nicole.

The redhead gets a big grin on her face as she flings open the cabinet doors. Leaning in towards the brunette and making sure her mom doesn’t hear, Nicole whispers to Waverly, “We do have lemonade if you want to try again.”

Nicole then looks the girl up and down before bringing her focus to Waverly’s shirt, “I wouldn’t necessarily be upset with similar results happening.”

Waverly scoots in closer until she is just barely touching Nicole, “Now if I remember correctly, the last time I was wet in front of you, I’m pretty sure you forgot your own name.” Nicole’s face turns instantly red as she quickly looks away from the girl.

Thoroughly pleased with herself, Waverly brushes past Nicole’s shoulder and goes to take a seat at the kitchen table, “I’m feeling pretty warm right now actually. Could I just get some water, Nic?”

Nicole grabs a glass from the cupboard, fills it with water, and sets it down in front of Waverly before sitting down at the table across from her. Avoiding all eye contact with each other, the two girls sit there in awkward silence until Katherine breaks it.

“So...should we try some of these cookies you brought over now, Waverly?” Katherine walks over to the plate, takes a cookie for herself, and sets the plate down between Nicole and Waverly.

Neither of the girls reach for a sugary treat right away and instead find themselves in a cookie standoff of sorts. The elder Haught rolls her eyes and takes a bite of the baked good, “Ooh Waverly, this is so good! You girls better get in there now too!” She grabs another cookie and excuses herself to the living room.

The teens make the briefest of eye contact before immediately looking away again, both staying stubborn and not moving an inch closer to the plate of cookies in front of them. After a few minutes, Nicole can feel her resolve slipping away as she contemplates reaching out for one. On the other side of the table, Waverly was not faring much better.

Both girls’ willpower finally pushes past the breaking point as they reach out for a sugar cookie at the same time and end up with more of each other’s hand in theirs than the dessert in front of them. That spark Waverly keeps feeling during these unplanned encounters with Nicole resurfaces with the same intensity as being struck by lightning, as she finds it difficult to remove her hand or even breathe at this point.

Nicole notices this display of panicked emotions and slowly eases her hand out of the brunette’s. Leaning back in her chair, the redhead gestures her hand in a sweeping motion out in front of her, “I guess it is ladies first after all.”

Looking down at her hand, Waverly takes a moment to readjust from the absence of Nicole’s grip and then focuses her gaze on the girl in front of her, “Umm...last time I checked, you were a lady too.”

“You were checking me out, Earp?” Nicole’s signature smirk spreads across her face as she makes eye contact with Waverly.

“No! Not like--That’s not--Ugh! You know how I meant it!” Each word frazzles the brunette even more than the last until she springs up out of her chair, grabs a cookie, and points at the girl sitting in front of her. “You may think you are hot shit all the time, no pun intended! But you most certainly are not!” Waverly turns on her heels and walks out of the kitchen towards the front door.

The redhead gives a small sigh after she recovers from her whiplash and then quickly gets out of her chair to chase down the other girl. As Waverly is reaching for the door, Nicole reaches out and grabs her other hand to turn her around, “Look, Waves--”

Waverly forcefully pulls her hand out of Nicole’s, “You don’t get to call me that when I’m mad at you.”

Nicole puts her hands up in surrender and takes a step back, “I’m sorry Wave...rly. The last thing I intended to do was make you mad at me.”

“Then what did you intend to make me feel with that comment?”

Now it was Nicole’s turn to not know what to say. _I mean I know what I want to say but now is most definitely not the time nor place._

“I guess I was trying to be funny? I don’t know...”

“Trying to be funny is all, huh?”

Feeling like she is in a lose-lose situation, Nicole tries to keep it short and simple in her response, “Yep!” The taller girl pops the last ‘p’ for emphasis.

“Well, I gotta say I’m not super amused by it,” Waverly turns away from Nicole and steps outside the door. “Enjoy the cookies.”

The door shuts in Nicole’s face as she stands there flabbergasted by how quickly that entire conversation escalated. Katherine slowly and carefully make her way into her daughter’s line of vision, “Hey honey, you wanna--”

“Not now, Mom.” Waverly cringes on the other side of the door as she hears the tone of Nicole’s voice and the sound of her footsteps heading up the stairs.

Waverly makes her way over to her house across the street, ascends the stairs, and goes over to her nook by the window. Desperately needing some fresh air, she opens her window and sits down in front of it. After a few moments, she starts to hear a song playing in the distance. _That sounds like a piano...and sounds so familiar too..._

A few more seconds pass by when it finally dawns on Waverly that it is Nicole playing the piano. Intently listening to try and figure out what song it is, Waverly opens the window wider and starts humming along to the notes being played.

As the chorus approaches, Waverly catches on to what song it is and starts singing:

_Say something, I’m giving up on you_

_I’m sorry that I couldn’t get to you_

_Anywhere, I would’ve followed you_

_Say something, I’m giving up on you_

The words start to register in Waverly’s head and an abrupt silence washes over her room. If you could hear a heart when it was hurting and crying out, Waverly was sure theirs were both audible. Upon hearing what Waverly heard next though, she knew you could hear a heart shatter because hers was deafening. Nicole started singing with the next verse:

_And I will swallow my pride_

_You’re the one that I love_

_And I’m saying goodbye_

Waverly kept herself glued to the window, listening until the very last note of the song faded away. She stared off at the house across the street, waiting to hear more but it never came. She gets startled out of her trance as she suddenly feels something wet fall onto her leg. Waverly quickly brings her hand up to her face to wipe the single tear that fell from it, gathers her knees towards her chest, then takes out her phone.

* * *

Across the street at the Haught household, the sounds of a piano can be heard throughout. Nicole had always used music as a sort of outlet for processing her emotions and she definitely had some to process now. Doing a couple of warm up exercises first, the pianist contemplates what the perfect song is for her current situation.

Filing through her mental songbook, she comes across the perfect song, takes a deep breath, and readies her hands above the keys. With the first few notes, Nicole can feel herself start to process the situation with Waverly.

_Say something, I’m giving up on you_

_I’ll be the one, if you want me to_

_Anywhere, I would’ve followed you_

As the girl gets past the first couple of verses, her thoughts overwhelm her and even though she doesn’t really like her singing voice, she feels the compulsion to sing through the rest of the song.

_...Say something, I’m giving up on you_

_Say something_

When the final note ceases to make noise, Nicole finds herself completely conflicted and lost in her own head. _Maybe I do need to say goodbye in a sense. It’s just so hard when that is literally the last thing I want to do._

Nicole nearly jumps off the piano bench when she hears her phone vibrate on the table beside her. Catching her breath and picking up her phone, she sees it is a message from Waverly.

_Waverly (4:34 pm): Hey...I heard you playing and just wanted to say you sounded amazing :) I’m sorry I got so upset earlier...can we talk?_

With every fiber of her being she wanted to say yes. She wanted to hear Waverly’s voice again even though it had only been a short time since she last did. She wanted to talk about things and make it all better between them. But she also wanted more. She just couldn’t do this, not today.

_Nicole (4:38 pm): Not now Waverly._

Nicole sets her phone back down after sending her message, crawls into bed, and brings the pillow laying next to her to her chest in an embrace. As a tear starts falling from her face, Nicole quickly brushes it away. Grabbing her headphones, she turns on her music and hides away from the world, if only for just a little bit.

* * *

The last couple weeks of summer went by too fast and Waverly’s alarm sounded much earlier than the girl would have liked for the first day of school. Reluctantly getting out of bed, Waverly notices that the house is fairly quiet for the occasion. _Probably because Wynonna is still sleeping. Can’t ruin her streak of being late to class on the first day during her senior year._

The brunette trudges into the bathroom and takes a long look at herself in the mirror. Thinking back to how she felt last year on this day, Waverly can’t believe all that has happened in that short period of time. Freshman year definitely did not go as expected and she sure didn’t think a fiery redhead was going to come in and completely turn her world upside down; for better or worse was yet to be determined.

Now at the start of sophomore year, Waverly isn’t quite sure how to feel about it. There are a lot of exciting things to look forward to this year: turning sixteen and getting her license, going on the big field trip to Washington D.C., finally being eligible to participate in the annual talent show, etc. but there is also the feeling something is missing in order to bring that extra bit of excitement Waverly is longing for.

Waverly shakes these thoughts out of her head as she opens the linen closet to grab a towel. Turning the shower on and getting undressed, she steps in and lets the hot water melt away her morning tension. After spending way too much time under the water, the girl steps out to a steam filled room and still nothing but silence. _I might have to check and see if Wynonna is still alive at this point!_

Waverly makes quick work of drying off and putting her cheerleading uniform on, then makes her way down the hall to Wynonna’s room. The door is shut, not at all unusual for her in the morning, so she hesitantly brings her hand up to softly knock on the door and whispers, “Wy...hey...you up yet?”

After a few moments of no response, Waverly cringes as she knocks louder on the door. _Wynonna is going to kill me if I’m waking her up right now._ Growing more worried by the second, the younger Earp loses all patience and reaches for the door knob, “I swear to God Wynonna, if you or anyone else is indecent in here and you made me come in here, there’s gonna be hell to pay!”

Waverly turns the door knob with one hand and brings the other hand up to cover her eyes as she walks into her sister’s room. Carefully spreading her fingers apart, she peeks through the gaps to find that Wynonna isn’t in her room at all. _That doesn’t make sense whatsoever...there’s no way she is awake already..._

“Nonna! Are you in here?” Waverly searches in the disheveled sheets on the bed, kneels down to look under the bed, and sifts through the disaster that is Wynonna’s closet. _What am I doing? It’s not like I’m looking for a dog or something. I would know if she was in here or not._

Shaking her head, Waverly makes her way back out of the room and walks to the top of the staircase. She can hear some commotion coming from the kitchen and knowing Gus is definitely awake already, she yells down, “Hey Gus, is Wynonna down there with you?”

Gus sticks her head out around the corner so she can see Waverly as she responds, “Fraid not honey. I think you missed her by about thirty minutes or so?”

Waverly stands there dumbfounded, trying to process the information she was just given. “You’re trying to tell me Wynonna...WYNONNA...is up and gone already for the morning?!”

“Yes ma’am! She said something about having to go get something before school this morning? I was about as shell shocked as you are right now that I didn’t even get a chance to ask her what she was up to!”

_Did I just wake up in an alternate reality?! I don’t know if I have ever been more speechless in my life? Well...maybe I have been another time..._

Waverly shakes her head to snap herself out of it and responds back to Gus, “Well I guess on that note, this day can’t get any weirder so I’m going to go finish getting ready.”

“You’ll be comin’ down for breakfast though right? Made the first day tradition like always.”

“Of course, Gus! I will be down in just a few moments,” Waverly turns around to go back to the bathroom, pinching herself on the way just to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. _I can’t even begin to imagine what Wynonna could be up to right now._

* * *

Wynonna was startled awake by a symphony of sounds coming from her phone on the nightstand next to the bed. _Ugh, fuck me...is it 6:00 already?!_ She reluctantly flips over to grab her phone and sees a bunch of missed texts and calls from one Chrissy Nedley. _Shit, what the hell is this chick on that she is functioning this early in the morning? And where can I get some?_

The brunette sits up in bed, runs her hand through her hair, and gives her face a couple of light slaps to try and wake up quicker. Once her eyes have focused, she pulls up the texts she missed from Chrissy.

_Chrissy (5:30 am): I am so ready for our plan this morning! Do you think it’s going to work?_

_Chrissy (5:40 am): I mean I know it is small but it has to make a difference right?_

_Chrissy (5:45 am): Should we be worried this was the best plan we could come up with and we had all summer?_

_Chrissy (5:48 am): I mean I realize they aren’t just going to admit their love for each other right on the spot because of this but could we have done more?_

_Chrissy (5:52 am): I am only slightly panicking right now...I mean I know it’s not 6 yet but you set an alarm to wake up right?! Wynonna?_

_Chrissy (5:55 am): Ok, sorry I panic called and I know I said I wouldn’t...please don’t kill me_

_Chrissy (5:58 am): Is it bad that I have had 2 cups of coffee already this morning? Omg there’s only 2 more minutes until you are awake too...look at that!_

_Chrissy (6:02 am): Now it’s 2 min past when you were supposed to be awake...are you awake? Please tell me you are awake!_

Wynonna reads through the assault of messages from Chrissy and brings her palm up to her face. _What the hell did I get myself into, teaming up with Chrissy Nedley on this?_

_Wynonna (6:05 am): Chrissy...yes I am awake...yes you have had too much coffee...yes this plan is at least a good start...and yes I am going to kill you...happy now?_

_Chrissy (6:06 am): I’m good with everything except the last part...would you reconsider if I have a coffee waiting for you as well? :)_

_Wynonna (6:09 am): Now you’re speaking more of my language...have you made sure Haught is good to go?_

_Chrissy (6:11 am): Should be...I told her to be ready for pick up at 7:15_

_Wynonna (6:13 am): And she thinks it’s just you coming to get her?_

_Chrissy (6:15 am): That’s all I told her so I’m guessing so_

_Wynonna (6:17 am): Good...double check that with her...I’m gonna get ready real quick and I will be there to pick you up at 7_

_Chrissy (6:18 am): Roger that...over and out!_

Chrissy shakes her head after sending the last message to Wynonna. _She is going to think I’m a total dweeb and never talk to me ever again._ She couldn’t help that she was excited for the plan today. A step one in motion to try and get Waverly and Nicole to finally see what is right in front of their faces: each other. Do they expect them to declare their love for each other today? Of course not...both Chrissy and Wynonna know the girls better than that...but if they can just get them back on good terms that would be the win they are looking for right now.

Chrissy sets her phone down for a moment on the kitchen table and walks over to the kitchen counter where there is a box of doughnuts calling her name. Reaching in, she grabs a chocolate covered one, with sprinkles too since that’s her favorite, and makes her way back to her chair at the table. After taking a couple bites of the doughnut and some more sips of coffee, Chrissy picks her phone back up and opens her text conversation with Nicole.

_Chrissy (6:30 am): Hey, you up? ;)_

_Nicole (6:32 am): Funny...yes I am awake_

_Chrissy (6:34 am): Sweet! Does around 7:15 still work for you?_

_Nicole (6:37 am): It does...even though it seems like I didn’t really have any other choice...what is so important that I need to go to school with you anyway?_

_Chrissy (6:39 am): Wow Haught, if I didn’t know you any better I would be hurt by that...can’t I just go to my first day of sophomore year with one of my friends?_

_Nicole (6:43 am): Ok but why me? Why not your best friend?_

_Chrissy (6:44 am): Are you not one of my best friends?_

_Nicole (6:45 am): You know who I mean..._

_Chrissy (6:47 am): Waves has Wynonna to take her to school...I just figured you would rather get to school by a friend driving you rather than your mom_

_Nicole (6:49 am): I appreciate that Chrissy...I’m sorry_

_Chrissy (6:51 am): No need to be sorry...see you in about 20 min?_

_Nicole (6:53 am): Yes, see you then :)_

Nicole tosses her phone on the bed and attempts to deal with the crisis at hand: what to wear on the first day of sophomore year. It was a little bit cooler outside than normal for this time of year so she had a couple options. After contemplating for a few moments, she finally decides to just go athletic this year: a black and white Nike windbreaker with a black Purgatory football shirt underneath, a pair of white Nike joggers, and her favorite purchase this summer, her triple black Nike Air Max 270s.

The redhead takes a look at herself in the mirror, _You are looking like fire, Haught. Nicole Haught 2.0 coming at Purgatory High today._ Nicole truly wondered how many heads she was going to turn when she walked into school since she had done something no one but her mom knew about yet; she cut her hair. This wasn’t just some summer trim either; we are talking about taking her shoulder length hair and cutting it just below the ears. The way her waves laid now made the red really stand out, giving Nicole a boost of confidence going into this year, whether she really needed it or not.

Nicole picks her phone up from the bed, slings her backpack over her shoulder and grabs her football gear, before walking out of her room and down the stairs. Hearing a familiar hum coming from the back of the house, Nicole walks around the staircase and turns into the kitchen.

“Mornin’ Mom! That smells amazing...what are you cooking?”

Katherine finishes plating the breakfast as Nicole slides down into one of the dining room chairs, “I made you your favorite this morning: french toast and bacon!”

Nicole is practically drooling before the plate is even set down in front of her, “Not that I am complaining whatsoever, but you definitely didn’t have to do that this morning!”

“Well, I just didn’t want you having cereal again this year on your first day,” Katherine walks back to the fridge to grab the syrup out and brings it over to her daughter.

“Aww...Mom...you do really love me!” Nicole sticks out her tongue and then puts one of the pieces of bacon quickly in her mouth.

Katherine brings her hand up to her chest and feigns taking offense to the statement, “Was that ever in question?!”

“No, not really! But I am gonna put it to the test this morning...”

The elder Haught watches Nicole smother her french toast in syrup, one eyebrow raised the entire time, “Looks like I’m gonna need to test your sugar levels too! But one issue at a time...what’s up Cole?”

Nicole swallows down a piece of her french toast and looks up guiltily at her mother, “Well...I was kinda hoping...that I could maybe...ride with Chrissy to school today instead of you?”

"While I appreciate you worrying about my feelings, sweetie, I understand that you are not a little kid anymore. If you want to go with your friend to school today, that is completely fine with me,” Katherine walks around the table and gives Nicole a quick kiss on her temple. “Just please make sure you lock up the house when you leave since I am going to head out now.”

“Thanks Mom, you’re the best!” Nicole lets out the breath she was holding as her mom turns to walk away. “I love you!”

“I love you too Nic. I hope you have a great first day of your sophomore year and I can’t wait to hear all about it later!” Katherine grabs her bag and keys and heads out the door to the garage.

Nicole finishes up her breakfast a few minutes later and as she is placing her dirty dishes in the dishwasher, she hears a honk coming from her driveway. _That must be Chrissy...she does not mess around when it comes to time...it’s exactly 7:15._

Grabbing all her stuff, Nicole heads out the front door, locking it behind her. As she looks up at the car in the driveway though, she is surprised to see Chrissy in the passenger seat and Wynonna Earp driving. _Of course this was a set up...I am absolutely going to kill Chrissy._

The redhead walks over to the driver’s side of Wynonna’s car, opens the back door, and tosses her football equipment into the back seat behind Chrissy. Sliding her backpack off her shoulder, she scoots her way into the middle seat with a big sigh, “Good morning Chrissy...and Wynonna...”

Wynonna nudges her sunglasses down to the end of her nose as she looks back at Nicole, “Holy shit Haught, your hair! Man if I swung that way, it would be a done deal let me tell you ‘cause you sure are looking hot today!”

Nicole’s face instantly turns almost as red as her hair, “Thanks...I think?” _Wrong Earp though..._

Chrissy finally turns around to make eye contact with Nicole and she can see the nervousness hidden in the blonde’s eyes, “So Nicole, we hope you don’t mind but we are gonna grab Waverly on our way to school this morning.”

“That makes sense...I don’t mind at all.” Nicole’s response is short and succinct and Chrissy starts questioning the entire plan. _This is not starting off well at all...this was not supposed to make her this upset and I just hope we haven’t ruined the whole thing._

Wynonna throws the car in reverse and backs down the driveway, making suggestive faces at Nicole the entire time. Right before Wynonna turns around to put the car in drive, she winks at Nicole, causing the redhead’s face to go red again as she rolls her eyes. The elder Earp laughs at herself as she makes the thirty second drive down the road to pull into her own driveway and pick up her sister.

Wynonna turns to her two passengers, “I will be right back with the goods...don’t miss me too much while I’m gone!”

As soon as Wynonna is out of sight, Nicole pulls herself up between the driver and passenger seat to look at Chrissy, “What exactly are you trying to pull here Chrissy?!”

Chrissy continues being invested in her phone and tries to nonchalantly shrug her question off, “I have no idea what you are talking about. We are just a bunch of friends going to their first day of the school year together.”

“Sure...and I’m the freaking pope!!! You really expect me to buy that load of crap coming out of your mouth right now?”

“Look...believe me or don’t Haughthead but I just want my friend group back again.”

Nicole softens for a second until those words finally register in her head and she shakes Chrissy’s seat, “Ah ha! See I knew there was something else going on here. You are trying to make Waverly and I get along again.”

Chrissy sighs, sets her phone in her lap, and turns back to look directly at Nicole, “And would that be the worst thing ever if I was? What’s so wrong with wanting your best friends to get along again?”

Seeing the dejection on Chrissy’s face, Nicole drops the subject and slouches back into the middle seat with her arms crossed thinking. After a few moments of complete silence, Chrissy can’t take it anymore and turns up the radio to catch the last little bit of the song playing, Bruno Mars’ “Just The Way You Are”.

Ironically, as the song gets to the main chorus again, that’s when the Earp sisters make their way out of the house. Waverly is in her cheerleading uniform again for the first day of school and Nicole can’t understand how she manages to look even more beautiful than the first time she saw her wearing that uniform freshman year. Nicole loses herself in the song for a moment as the two brunettes walk towards the car.

_When I see your face_

_There’s not a thing that I would change_

_‘Cause you’re amazing_

_Just the way you are_

_And when you smile_

_The whole world stops and stares for a while_

_‘Cause, girl, you’re amazing_

_Just the way you are_

Nicole is quickly drawn out of her daydream as Waverly approaches the back door of the car, flings it open, throws her backpack practically on top of her, and then proceeds to address Chrissy as she goes to sit in the seat, “Wow Chris I get booted out of the front seat of my--oh my goodness, Nic! What are you doing back here?!”

Nicole smirks as she crafts her reply to Waverly, “Well I’m really just looking to get a ride--”

“Nope!” Waverly puts her finger up in front of Nicole’s face, “It’s too early for this nonsense talk to be starting already! Now scoot over so I can get in this car and shut the door.”

“Sorry Waves, all my football equipment is next to me, so you’re going to have to suck it up and be touching me for a little bit since I really have nowhere I can move right now.”

Waverly gives a slight eye roll as she places herself right along Nicole’s side so she can get the door all the way shut behind her. _This is just great...happy first day of sophomore year to me._

Wynonna gets in the driver’s seat and an awkward silence falls upon the vehicle. She slowly backs out of the driveway and starts heading towards the school. A few blocks have passed by and Wynonna checks the rearview mirror to see if the situation is changing at all and shakes her head slightly as she takes note of the ridiculous amount of tension in the car right now.

Nicole is sitting in the middle with her arms in her lap, trying her best to make herself as small as she can to please Waverly. Waverly is leaning against the door of the car with her arms crossed, looking just about as angry as was possible for the girl. Chrissy is staring straight forward next to Wynonna and looking like she is going to throw up from nerves. And Wynonna? Wynonna is just over it at this point.

Wynonna checks her rearview mirror one more time, but this time to make sure there were no cars behind her. The brunette then slams on her brakes and stops in the middle of the road. Chrissy’s phone flies off her lap and onto the floor, Nicole’s arms instinctively go out in front of her as she braces herself against the two front seats, and Waverly lurches forward ever so slightly with full on daggers in her eyes.

“What the hell was that Wynonna?!”

Chrissy and Nicole bring themselves back to a normal seated position with all their belongings as Wynonna places the car in park and whips herself around to face her sister, “Can I speak to you outside?”

Waverly looks at Wynonna incredulously and throws her hands in the air, “What do you mean speak to me outside? You literally have the car stopped in the middle of the street!!!”

“I meant what I said,” Wynonna shrugs, takes off her seatbelt, opens her door, and gets out of the vehicle. Walking a couple of feet away, she turns around and looks at Waverly expectantly whilst tapping her foot impatiently.

“Freaking unbelievable!” Waverly mutters to herself under her breath as she gets out to join her sister on the side of the street.

As Waverly shuts the door behind her, Chrissy and Nicole look at each other with the same dumbfounded expression on both of their faces. Chrissy snaps out of the stupor first and slowly reaches to push the button to turn the hazards on.

Outside the vehicle, Wynonna chuckles to herself as she sees the flashers turn on and gives a thumbs up to Chrissy as she yells, “Hey! Good thinking!” Waverly has had enough of Wynonna’s shenanigans at this point and lightly slaps her on her upper arm, “What gives Wy?! This is not only completely reckless but also embarrassing!”

“Yeah, well, right now the way you and Haught are acting is embarrassing too!”

The cheerleader crosses her arms and immediately gets defensive, “I have no idea what you are talking about!”

Wynonna rolls her eyes and cocks her head at her sister, “You wanna try that again? You have never been a good liar Waves.”

A few moments of awkward silence pass by as Wynonna continues to stare at her sister, waiting for an answer. Both girls are then startled by a car horn and Tucker Gardner rolling down his window as he drives around the parked car, “You’re supposed to leave trash on the side of the road, not in the middle of it!”

Wynonna immediately gives him the bird before they are out of his sight and yells after his car as he continues to drive, “Eat shit Tucker!!!” She then turns back to Waverly as if nothing happened and once again waits for her to respond.

“I’m not really sure what to say right now, Wynonna, there is no me and Haught,” Waverly sighs, her body language becoming more and more tense with every word.

Seeing Waverly’s response to being called out, Wynonna contemplates how she wants to proceed with this situation. Deciding not to escalate it any further, for everyone’s sake, the elder Earp closes the gap between them and gently rubs the outside of Waverly’s arms, “And that right there is the problem babygirl.”

Nicole and Chrissy’s eyes have not left the Earp girls since they both exited the vehicle, but as soon as they see Wynonna step around Waverly and start heading back towards the car, both girls immediately pull out their phones and look at them as if they are the most interesting things in the world.

Wynonna gets back into the vehicle and Waverly is just a few seconds behind her. Once both girls have secured their seatbelts once again, Wynonna reaches over to turn her hazards off and resumes their drive to school. The tension is still there, maybe even more so now, and Chrissy is full on panicking inside at this point. She looks over at Wynonna, who winks at her, leaving her even more confused about what the hell just happened.

After a few minutes, the tension starts eating away at Nicole too until she finally can’t take it anymore. Waverly is at least sitting up against her this time, but the redhead can feel the heat radiating off of her and from what she can deduce from the situation, the most likely cause is because of anger. _What I am about to do may be risky, but I have to at least try something..._

Nicole moves her hand slowly to her left, places it on the edge of Waverly’s bare leg, and moves her thumb back and forth across her skin to get her attention. She feels the girl jump slightly underneath her touch and then notices goosebumps right before she lifts her hand back off and sets it in her lap.

Waverly turns to look at Nicole, completely caught off guard by this gesture and ready to tell her off when she sees one of the softest looks she’s ever seen from those brown eyes. Nicole then takes it one step further and mouths the words ‘are you ok’ and Waverly internally curses at the way she can never seem to stay mad at this girl beside her.

The most she could muster as a response right now was a nod of the head and both Waverly and Nicole accepted that as Wynonna pulled into the parking lot of the school. After finding a spot to park in, Nicole and Waverly slide their way out of the back seat and Chrissy continues to stay planted in the front. Wynonna notices her apprehension and gives her shoulder a nudge, “You gonna get out of my car there, Blondie?”

Chrissy turns her body to look at her best friend’s sister, “Umm...y--yeah...sorry...but did we just make it worse between them?”

Wynonna glances at the back passenger side of her car and smirks, “Why don’t you look over your shoulder right now and see if Operation WayHaught is still a go.”

Nicole is just about to open the back door to grab her football equipment out when Waverly comes around from the front of the car and places her hand on the door to stop it from opening. “Is there a reason why you are always so nice to me?”

The taller girl’s eyes narrow as she looks down to meet Waverly’s, “Is being nice to you a crime now?”

“Well if it was, then you would definitely be in trouble since you always are even when I don’t deserve it.”

“You always deserve to be treated nicely no matter what Waves. Now is it cool if I open the door and grab my stuff?”

“Oh! Yeah, sorry!” Waverly takes her hand off the door and stands there awkwardly as Nicole reaches in to grab her bag and equipment.

Nicole takes her stuff out of the vehicle, shuts the door with her hip as her hands are completely full now, and notices Waverly still standing there waiting nervously, “Is there something else I can help you out with?”

Waverly starts wringing her hands and avoiding eye contact with the redhead, “You know how I said earlier that you would be in trouble?”

“Yes?...”

The brunette closes the gap between them and reaches up to touch Nicole’s hair. Playing with a few strands of it in her fingers, Waverly once again makes eye contact with the girl in front of her, “This haircut is definitely going to cause you trouble. No one’s going to be able to take their eyes off you.”

The two teens are completely transfixed in this moment and Nicole is almost positive about three things right now. One, she stopped breathing the moment Waverly’s hand came near her face. Two, her face had to be about the same color as her hair. And three, she was either going to die from embarrassment of her body’s reaction to Waverly being this close to her or just simply from the fact that her hand was still in her hair.

Before Nicole can even form a coherent response to Waverly, the breakfast bell sounds and startles them both from their gaze. Waverly’s hand instantly flies out of Nicole’s hair and falls abruptly at her side. Wynonna and Chrissy both start to get out of the car and Chrissy focuses her attention on her two friends, “You guys ready to start sophomore year?”

“You two go on ahead,” Nicole lifts her football equipment for emphasis, “I have to take this to the locker room first anyway. I will see you guys around!”

Waverly gives her a look before she turns around and joins Chrissy walking up towards the school. When they get far enough away, Nicole drops her football bag, runs her hand through her own hair, and lets out a deep sigh.

Wynonna walks around to the passenger side of the car and leans up against it with her arms crossed, “So I know we haven’t really talked much before but maybe it’s time we did?”

“I can’t possibly imagine us having that much to talk about Wynonna.”

Wynonna stands up and walks over to the younger girl, “See...now that’s where you’re wrong Haughtstuff. Our main topic of discussion just walked away after having her hand in your hair so I think we have plenty to talk about.”

Nicole’s face heats up once again, thinking back to a few minutes ago but that feeling quickly turns to defensiveness as the older Earp sister lessens the space between them. “There’s nothing to talk about with Waves and I.”

“You know...the moment you two stop lying to yourselves is gonna be a great moment for me to finally get to say I told you so.”

“Are we done here? I am gonna be late to class.”

Wynonna shrugs her shoulders as she brings her face closer to Nicole’s, “Sure we can be done here for now. Just one more thing though...hurt my baby sister and you will have to answer to me.”

The staredown continues for a few more moments before Nicole reaches down and picks up her equipment and then slides past Wynonna before turning back around for one final word, “You’re a good sister, Wynonna, but you don’t have anything to worry about. Also...you’re not as intimidating as you think.”

Wynonna watches as Nicole continues to walk away and laughs to herself. _You definitely have some balls, Haught...I’ll give you that. Being close to the Earps is not for the faint of heart._

All of a sudden, Dolls comes up behind Wynonna and gives her a hug, “Hey! I wasn’t sure if I was going to get to see you before class started. Should the smirk on your face right now make me nervous?”

Wynonna turns around in Dolls’ arms and gives him a quick kiss, “Nope! Shouldn’t make YOU nervous at least.”

Dolls chuckles as he lets Wynonna out of his arms, “Well...I feel for whomever that unlucky person is.”

Wynonna lightly shoves Dolls in the chest and grabs her backpack out of the trunk. She slings it over one shoulder and takes a deep breath while looking at the school building. Dolls places his arm out to Wynonna for her to grab a hold of, “Can I walk you to your first class of the day for the last time, senior?”

Wynonna interlocks her arm with his, “Of course...I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

* * *

The first month and a half of the school year couldn’t have gone by any slower for Waverly. Ever since finding out on the first day of classes that she shared none with Nicole this semester, Waverly just wasn’t feeling as excited as she hoped she might be for this year. _I am definitely feeling the sophomore slump that’s for sure._

The only times Waverly really saw Nicole were in passing in the hallway or if the cheerleaders happened to be practicing on the field with the football team. They did try with the occasional snapchat here and there too, but with their busy schedules, Waverly felt like it was a fairly unsuccessful effort.

Every day the brunette worried that the magic the girls had together the beginning of freshman year was completely gone. _Was I too hard on Nicole? Did I wait too long? Am I just going to be replaced with the next best thing? Am I forgettable?_

Chrissy always did a good job of reminding her that she was most definitely unforgettable and that she was just being too hard on herself but Waverly also knew that was in the best friend handbook so she took these comments with a grain of salt. The cheerleader knew she needed to try and do something about her and Nicole and she decided a few days ago she was going to plan something for tonight’s football game against their rivals East High.

Waverly enlisted the help of a somewhat reluctant Wynonna and convinced her to hide the surprise in the trunk of her car for after the game. Waverly had stayed up late last night making signs and decorating the trunk so that after school all Wynonna and her would have to do is run to the general store quick for the finishing touches.

The end of the school day bell sounded and Waverly was pretty sure she had never left the school building so fast before in her life. The younger Earp made it out to the car and impatiently waited for a few minutes until she finally saw her sister in the distance making her way towards the vehicle as well.

As Wynonna is approaching the parked car, Waverly’s impatience finally boils over as she yells at her sister, “Could you be any slower right now?!”

Wynonna nonchalantly shrugs and then very obviously and deliberately slows down her pace even further, to a mere crawl. Upon noticing this, Waverly becomes more visibly frustrated, throwing her hands in the air before crossing them in front of her chest.

When Wynonna finally does get within earshot, Waverly addresses her sister through gritted teeth, “I literally could murder you right now...I have to make sure I make it back here in time to get ready with the squad!”

“Well now Michael Myers, if you went and did that then who would take you to the store? Didn’t think that one through now did ya?”

“Ugh! You are ridiculous! Would you just get in the freaking car already so I can get this finished?” Waverly gets into the passenger seat hastily and slams the door behind her.

Wynonna rolls her eyes and makes an obscene gesture before getting behind the wheel. The elder Earp pulls out of the parking lot and heads towards the general store a few blocks away. Wynonna tries her best to bite her tongue but soon caves under Waverly’s cold shoulder, “So...what’s the point of all this anyway? Nothing from Haught for weeks and now you are planning this big gesture all of a sudden?”

Waverly nervously fidgets with her hands as she contemplates her response, “I mean...we are both pretty busy people, Nonna. And...I feel like I have been kinda rough on her lately. So this is to show her that I...ya know...I...”

“Think she’s pretty Haught? See what I did there?” Wynonna starts laughing hysterically at her own joke as Waverly’s face progressively gets a darker shade of red.

“No! I mean not that I...what am I saying...ugh! That’s not the point here Wynonna!”

Wynonna continues to smirk as she pulls into a parking spot at the store and then turns to her sister, “Look...you don’t have to explain anything to me Waves. You guys are cute...now go get what you need so we can make sure this thing is perfect.”

Waverly lets out a deep breath, heads into the store, and about ten minutes later, is on her way back out with a couple of bags in hand. She places the bags in the back seat of the car and slides back into the passenger seat.

“Did you find everything else that you needed?” Wynonna pulls the car out of the parking lot and starts heading back towards the school.

“I hope so...” Waverly stares out the window while nervously playing with the hem of her cheerleading skirt.

Wynonna briefly places her hand on top of Waverly’s to try and help calm her nerves. “Don’t worry babygirl,” she returns her hand to the steering wheel after giving her sister’s hand a squeeze, “we are going to make sure this turns out epic!”

* * *

The final whistle blows and Nicole looks up at the scoreboard for the final score: Purgatory- 24 East High- 27. Catching all three touchdowns wasn’t enough to bring home the win for the Blue Devils and Nicole lets out a long sigh before attempting to swallow her pride long enough to shake the hands of their rivals.

Nicole makes her way back over to the bench and stops in front of her equipment. Unstrapping the chin strap, the receiver slides off her helmet and sets it down near her water bottle. Running her hand through her short red hair, Nicole unsticks the sweaty hair clinging to the back of her neck and then proceeds to gather all her things and starts to head off the field.

As she gets to the edge of the field, Nicole hears a voice call out in front of her, “Well Haught honestly doesn’t even begin to cover it now does it?”

The football player looks up from the ground and is startled to see someone leaning up against the concession stand wall, “Umm...are...are you talking to me?”

The girl chuckles as she pushes herself off the wall and starts walking towards the redhead, “Is there another player named Haught that I should know about?”

“Uhh...n--no...just me! Is there something I can help you with?”

As the girl gets closer to Nicole, she can start to make out the girl’s appearance; she is tall with a darker complexion, black hair, brown eyes, and an East High cheerleading uniform. The mystery girl gets within an arm’s length and reaches her hand out for a handshake, “I’m definitely hoping there might be something you can help me with. First though, the name’s Shae.”

* * *

Waverly had been waiting quite impatiently for the game to be over but now that the game had finally completed, she was feeling a little more nervous than she anticipated. The plan had been set in motion and Wynonna was waiting with the car near the entrance of the field just behind the bleachers. The only thing left to do was for Waverly to nab Nicole as she was leaving.

Wynonna gives her sister a thumbs up through the back window and Waverly takes a deep breath as she slowly makes her way around the bleachers. As she gets about halfway there, the cheerleader notices Nicole talking to someone in the distance. Waverly stops in her tracks as she sees another cheerleader from their rival school come walking up to the football player.

The brunette sees this girl and she is absolutely gorgeous; she’s got gorgeous hair, a gorgeous smile, and legs for days. The girl reaches out and gives Nicole her hand, lingering for a little too long in Waverly’s opinion. As their conversation progresses, Waverly’s heart starts to sink as she watches the girl touch Nicole’s arm and laugh, seemingly enjoying herself. _Is that girl flirting with Nicole right now? Am I too late?_

Waverly then sees the East High girl pull what appears to be a napkin and a marker out from her cheerleading top and watches as she writes a series of numbers on it. _Is she giving Nicole her number right now?_ Waverly sees Nicole take the napkin in her hands and all of a sudden this is all too much and she quickly turns around to retreat back to Wynonna’s car.

Coming up quickly on the back of the car, Waverly closes the trunk on Nicole’s surprise, scaring the shit out of her sister in the process. The younger Earp opens the passenger door and collapses into the seat, utterly defeated. Wynonna pauses for just a moment and then addresses the elephant in the car, “Waves, what happened? Where’s Haught?”

In absolutely heartbreaking fashion, Waverly looks at Wynonna with tears in her eyes, “I was too late...she’s not coming.”

“What do you mean too late?” Wynonna is completely flabbergasted and confused, “She’s still here; I just saw her walking off the field.”

“Can we please just go?”

“Babygirl, why are you crying? Do I need to go kick Haught’s ass?! That’s fine, I can go do that...” Wynonna unlatches her seatbelt and starts reaching for the door before Waverly’s borderline yell stops her immediately.

“No!” Wynonna jumps slightly and Waverly lowers her voice, “No...there’s no need for all that.”

“Well something happened back there and I’m not--”

“Wynonna, please!” Waverly turns her head away from her older sister, “I just want to go home.”

As Wynonna starts to pull the car away, Waverly looks in the side mirror one last time to see Nicole still talking to the cheerleader as the tears start to slowly stream down her face. _I guess I was right...I am forgettable._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so how did my glorious return fare everyone? lol Loving it? Hating it? Please let me know in the comments!!!
> 
> If you want to give me compliments, yell at me for the chapter, or just need to discuss, you can always hit me up on Twitter as well! @flugge34
> 
> Like I said it will be a moment before the next chapter comes but I am going to post as soon as it is written but it has not been started yet. Definitely should not take me as long though and I'm hoping a few months at the most!
> 
> Next chapter is gonna be a fun one...and will be very similar to Chapter 2 of Freshman Year actually and will only cover one night...drum roll please............it will be taking place at Champ's place for his annual bonfire! And I'm sure you can only imagine what kind of things I can cover at an event like that with how long my chapters are....have fun thinking about that one everyone!
> 
> Until next time! <3


	2. Chapter Two: Sophomore Year- Playing With Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's that time of year again right after sports season where Champ Hardy hosts his annual bonfire. Bringing together a bunch of teenagers for a night of food, drinks, and party games could only mean a night of wholesome fun right? There's party prep, ATVs, s'mores, drinking, and kissing going down at this bonfire so nothing could possibly go wrong...When secrets are admitted that surprise all, will relationships be able to handle the aftermath of this fire?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright Earpers!!! I'm finally back again! I have to say that only 3 months in between chapters is pretty good for me! I would have liked it to be a little faster but hey we are here now which is all that matters!
> 
> This was one of my favorite chapters to write so far and I think I like the chapters that focus on a single event more sometimes because then I can go into further detail which always brings up some fun things! This chapter is my 2nd longest to date so I hope it is well worth the wait!
> 
> Also, a special shout out to one of my best friends for bouncing ideas around with me! I couldn't have come up with the great ideas I did without her so thank you @ifeelcollege for all your help!!! <3
> 
> ***WARNING***
> 
> There is a scene that you might want to skip over that has some bullying when it comes to being part of the LGBT community and if so it is the scene just as Champ and Nicole get done riding the ATVs. There is also a mention of drunk driving with Waverly and Nicole during the game part of this chapter if that is a sensitive subject for you as well.
> 
> Ok, without further ado, I give you Chapter Two of Sophomore year!!!

Nicole takes the napkin from Shae and slowly turns it around so she can see what’s written on it. _I have no idea what could--_ As she looks down at the series of numbers on the stark white paper, Nicole is completely speechless at the boldness of the girl in front of her. _I am not usually the one being pursued in these situations...I don’t even know how to process this right now._

Picking up on her hesitation, Shae laughs to herself and reaches out to touch the football player’s hand in order to bring her attention back to her, “We may not play for the same team in one regard, but I’m pretty sure we do in another. I have to catch the bus here now, but I couldn’t leave without giving that to you first.”

Nicole snaps out of her trance as the cheerleader’s hand touches hers but before she knows it, Shae is walking away before she even has a chance to speak. The girl turns around for one last look before she is out of earshot and laughs at the fact that Nicole hasn’t moved since she started walking away, “Even though you had more game on the field today than just now, I’m sure you know what to do with what’s in your hands!”

The redhead’s face starts turning the shade of her hair and so she turns her attention in the opposite direction and sees a cheerleader she actually knows this time off in the distance. _What is Waverly still doing by the field this late? And why does she look upset?_ Nicole turns back towards Shae to watch her walking away; she was only human after all. A few moments pass until she is jolted out of her trance as she remembers she just saw someone else: Waverly.

“Waves!” Nicole attempts to call out to the girl but to no avail. _She looks like she is on a mission to go wreck someone right now with her arms crossed so tightly and marching off like that._

“Hey Waves!” Nicole tries again and puts her hand up to wave, almost losing the napkin still clenched in her hand. _Ugh...I swear to God this girl frustrates me like no other sometimes!_

Realizing she is going to have to chase after her, Nicole starts making her way towards the parking lot as quickly as she can. She hears what sounds like a car door slamming up ahead and the sound startles her so much that she almost drops her football gear and Shae’s number. 

Letting out an irritated groan, Nicole makes a pitstop on her way to the last location she saw Waverly heading towards. _As flattering as that was, I do think I know what to do with this Shae._ Nicole then tosses the napkin in the trash bin next to her and jogs her way to the top of the small hill to see Wynonna’s car driving out of the parking lot. _Damn it...I was too late!_

Looking down and catching her breath, Nicole sees something sparkling in the grass on the edge of the parking lot. Bending down to pick it up, she ends up with a broken wooden football sign that in blue sparkly letters only shows the letters N, I, and C. _Was this supposed to be for me?_

Nicole makes her way back down the hill with the piece of the sign still in her hand and goes back to the trash can where she threw Shae’s napkin. Hovering the remnant over the bin, she can’t help but feel like maybe she shouldn’t dispose of this right now. The football player then gets another feeling that someone is watching her, but doesn’t see anyone as she takes a quick glance around. Nonetheless, Nicole feels uneasy so she tucks the sign under her arm and hightails it towards the school to get out of her football gear and go home.

Across the parking lot, a smirking Stephanie Jones sits in her car and watches as Nicole finally walks away from the football field. The blonde had seen everything go down: Waverly’s elaborate decoration of Wynonna’s trunk, Shae approaching Nicole, Waverly becoming upset and leaving, and Nicole being too late to catch her.

As satisfying as it was watching the order of events go down, the blonde was more pleased with what she had acquired in the past five minutes. Sitting in her lap was a napkin with a phone number written on it and the name Shae with a heart after it. A napkin she had seen Nicole Haught deposit into the trash can just minutes ago after meeting with a cheerleader from the other team. And now it was in her possession.

_Oh Haught...sometimes you can be so unobservant. I mean you even went over to the same trash can and I thought for sure you would notice the napkin missing. Lucky for me, you have no idea that it isn’t right where you left it._ Stephanie puts the number into her phone to make sure she doesn’t lose out on this golden opportunity in her lap by misplacing the number. _This is going to be too easy...but a lot of fun in the process..._

Stephanie makes sure to give it a little bit more time so that what she was about to do would be more believable and then brings up a new text message.

_Stephanie (10:15 pm): Hey Shae! It’s Nicole :)_

* * *

It had been a couple weeks since the football game where both Nicole and Waverly left feeling confused and hurt. Nothing had been cleared up in the meantime but to be fair, neither girl knew that the other had any issues with that night. Even if they did though, anyone who knows them could have told you that nothing would have been resolved anyway due to their stubbornness. So school went on as usual and for Nicole and Waverly this meant that they really didn’t get to see or talk to each other, further making this year seem like a sophomore slump for sure.

Things were feeling a little more exciting this Friday though as buzz was going around the school about the annual bonfire that takes place at Champ Hardy’s house right after football season and right before wrestling season starts. It always took place on a weekend when his parents were out of town and rumor had it Champ was going to announce it would take place tomorrow. After all the craziness that happened at it last year, it was all the sophomores could talk about throughout the day.

The end of the day rolls around and the last class is dismissed, with every student heading to their lockers to grab their things and head home. Nicole spots Waverly at her locker a few down from her and gives her a smile and head nod. Waverly returns with a faint smile and then looks away, focusing on getting her things together to leave. Slightly dejected, Nicole opens up her backpack to put the books she needs in there and tries not to read too much into what the brunette just did, but was unsuccessful. _Is Waverly upset with me? I mean I guess it has been a minute since we have actually talked...maybe she is just having a bad day? Either way, I should probably just go talk to her._

Nicole is just about to start walking over to Waverly’s locker when all of a sudden, Champ Hardy comes bursting out of the study hall room with a chair in tow. He sets the chair down in the middle of the chaos that is leaving school on a Friday and hops on top of it.

“Sophomore class! Listen up!” He pauses for a brief moment while his classmates all stop and bring their attention to him. “I, Champ Hardy, am going to have a bonfire tomorrow night and you are all invited! Check out my socials for the deets because you do not want to miss this! See everyone there tomorrow!”

Champ jumps down from the chair and cockily struts over to Waverly at her locker. He leans his arm on the locker next to hers, making sure she notices him next to her. “Hey there...can I count on seeing you at my place tomorrow night?”

“I’m not sure you will even remember if you did see me after what I heard about last year’s party. And what if I have plans already? You didn’t exactly give people much notice you know.” Waverly stops packing her things for a moment and takes a step back from the boy who is definitely a little too close for comfort at this point.

“Aww c’mon...this is Purgatory...like people have things going on here that are more important,” Champ pushes himself off the locker and rolls his eyes while waiting for a response from Waverly that never comes. Slightly panicking from her silence, he continues his thoughts, “You really don’t have plans already, do you?”

Before Waverly can answer, Chrissy comes up behind her and grabs her in a hug, “Of course she doesn’t have plans already tomorrow! We will definitely be there Champ!”

Waverly turns her head towards Chrissy’s, giving her a quick disapproving look as a grin breaks out across Champ’s face, “Awesome! See you guys tomorrow then!”

Once Champ has walked far enough away, Waverly turns completely around to face Chrissy and slaps her on her upper arm, “Ow! What was that for?!”

“What if I didn’t want to go tomorrow?! You know what happened last year at the party! And now I have to go because you opened your big mouth!”

“Ok first of all, yes I do know what happened at the party last year because I was actually there and you bailed. And second of all, you are Waverly Earp and that means sometimes you just have to suck it up and make appearances at things. I don’t make the rules!”

The brunette brings her hands up to her head and starts rubbing her temples, “You can be so frustrating sometimes, you know that?”

Chrissy shrugs her shoulders as this is already common knowledge, “And that’s what you love about me! But you only have yourself to be frustrated with Miss It’s All in The Smile and Wave. Now, are you about ready to go yet? We have a party to prepare for!”

“Chris...the party isn’t until tomorrow...”

“I said what I said!” The blonde grabs ahold of Waverly’s hand once the cheerleader has picked up her things from the locker and Nicole watches the best friends go to leave for the weekend. _And naturally I miss out on getting to talk to Waverly in person before she left. Stupid Champ._

Nicole thought her mood couldn’t get any worse right now but as she turns to leave the locker area, none other than Champ Hardy appears in front of her, with his usual arrogant smirk on his face. “Hey don’t worry about showing up tomorrow. I wouldn’t want you to get your feelings hurt by being there.”

Now, normally Nicole knew better than to engage Champ when he was clearly trying to bait her but her curiosity got the better of her this time, “And why would my feelings get hurt if I came to your party?”

“Let’s just say by the end of tomorrow night, Waverly Earp is not going to be single anymore.”

“And why would that hurt my feelings?”

Champ moves in closer to Nicole so he can whisper in her ear, “The whole school knows how you feel about Waverly at this point. You’re not as subtle as you think.”

The redhead clenches her fists, trying to calm herself down, as the boy takes a few steps back from her. She tries to respond as calmly and collectively as she possibly can while looking at this ignoramus with a shiteating grin on his face, “Like most people whenever something comes out of your mouth, I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Your hands are in fists at your side and your face is about as red as your hair, but sure we will go with you have no idea what I’m talking about.” Champ laughs as he starts to walk away from Nicole but then stops for one last word, “Me and my girl will see ya on Monday!”

Just hearing those words come out of Champ’s mouth made Nicole want to throw up and her stomach dropped to the floor. She didn’t think Waverly would choose to date that meathead but then again, Nicole didn’t really know what went through Waverly’s head most of the time which frustrated her more than anything. _There’s no way I’m letting him date her without a fight. Guess the bonfire is not going to be the only fiery thing at this party tomorrow night._

* * *

Waverly stared at herself in the mirror, examining the work Chrissy had done. Somehow her best friend had talked her into letting her do her makeup and choosing her outfit for the bonfire tonight and the brunette was still deciding if it was the right move. Chrissy sometimes had a flair for the dramatic and Waverly wasn’t quite sure if this outfit was flirting with that line or not.

She was currently sporting a purple off the shoulder boho shirt with black skinny jeans and black ankle boots. Her makeup was subtle, which Waverly appreciated, especially since her outfit was going to make more than just a statement. She took a couple steps back from the mirror to get the overall picture while she was waiting for Chrissy to come back with the “finishing touch” to her ensemble tonight.

_I will admit, this outfit Chrissy put together is pretty great...maybe this party won’t be so awful aft--_ Waverly almost jumps out of her skin as Chrissy reenters the room and screams as she sees the outfit on her for the first time.

“Ahh!!! That looks so damn good Waves!”

“Jesus, Chris...you almost made me have to change just now!”

Chrissy makes her way across the room to really inspect the work she has done and then guides Waverly over to the edge of her bed to sit down, “Well we can’t have that now can we? Especially because I have the last thing that is going to pull this all together!”

Waverly looks up at the blonde nervously, not knowing what her best friend could possibly have in store for her. With Chrissy literally anything was possible and the ear-splitting grin plastered on her face wasn’t making Waverly feel any better.

“Do I even wanna know what this final touch is?”

“Do you not trust me Waverly Earp?” Chrissy brings her hand to her chest and pretends to take offense to her question. “Have I ever led you astray before?”

The cheerleader gives her a look and Chrissy interrupts Waverly before she can get any part of her comeback out, “Ok, ok...but like this time I got you. I’m gonna make sure you are hotter than this bonfire we are about to be at!”

Waverly is confused as Chrissy doesn’t leave her side to go grab some other article of clothing but instead reaches into her pocket to pull out a small purple tube of makeup. “That is your finishing touch? I’m gonna be honest, I was expecting something a little more...grandiose?”

Chrissy shakes her head disappointedly, “Your lack of faith tonight Waves...it hurts...it really hurts...trust me, this added to what you are currently rockin’ is gonna turn so many heads!”

Waverly grabs the makeup from Chrissy’s outstretched hand and examines the product, “Is this a purple tinted lip gloss?!”

“Damn right it is a purple tinted lip gloss!” Chrissy waits for more of a response that doesn’t come so she playfully scoffs at the incredulous look on Waverly’s face, “What? Is that not bold enough for you?”

“No, it’s not that!” Waverly grabs the small tube from Chrissy, flipping it over nervously in her hands. “It’s just...are you sure I’m gonna be able to pull something like that off?”

Chrissy’s face goes from joking to completely serious in about two seconds flat, “Are you kidding me right now? Waverly, you could literally pull off anything...it’s actually really not fair.”

Waverly still hesitantly looks down at the lip gloss, not sure whether Chrissy is telling the truth or just being a good friend. Chrissy notices the apprehension and lets out an exaggerated sigh, “For the love of God, Waverly, just trust me and put the lip gloss on.”

The blonde walks away and starts gathering her makeup and all the vetoed clothing spread out across the room. Seeing the time, Chrissy grabs the bag of stuff the girls are going to take to the bonfire and gets Waverly’s attention, “Hey newly licensed driver, you are still driving us tonight right?”

“Yes...why what’s up?”

“Oh I just wanted to throw this bag in the car and make sure we had everything good to go since we need to be leaving soon. You know where the keys are?” Chrissy starts making her way to the door while waiting for her response.

Waverly turns around on her bed to face her, “Wynonna should have just left them on the dining room table as far as I know. At least that’s what she said she was going to do right before Dolls came over to pick her up.”

Chrissy stops as she gets to the doorway, “Alright, I will look and see. That lip gloss better be on your lips by the time I get back up here too...I ain’t playing.”

The brunette waves her friend off as she exits the room and then turns back to the mirror in front of her. Scooting herself to the edge of the bed so she can see better, Waverly opens up the tube of makeup and pulls out the brush, examining the color on the end. _The color is SO purple...I hope Chrissy is right about this._

Waverly applies the lip gloss and then stands up from the bed to get a better overall picture of her look for tonight. Turning the mirror ninety degrees so she has room to take a few steps back, Waverly can’t help but be impressed with what Chrissy came up with. _It’s not something I normally would have worn, but I think that’s kinda why it works too. And I will never tell her this but the lip gloss is a really nice addition._

Waverly grabs her phone from the bed and heads downstairs to meet Chrissy. As she gets about halfway down, she almost falls down the rest of them as she gets scared by a loud scream.

“Holy shit, I knew it! I knew that lip gloss would bring it all together! I should really consider showing up separately because everyone is literally just going to be looking at you when we show up!”

Waverly shakes her head as she gets to the bottom of the stairs after her minor heart attack, “Please...says the girl that looks drop dead gorgeous right now in that red dress, black leather jacket, and red lipstick.”

Chrissy walks over to Waverly and offers out her arm for her to grab, “Well I guess we are about to make the entire sophomore class jealous as we walk up. Ready to go?”

“Ready as I’m ever going to be I think!” Waverly intertwines her arm in Chrissy’s and the two girls walk out to the car and head to Champ’s.

* * *

Nicole was frustrated, and in more ways than one. She was frustrated because she had her entire closet spread out on her bed in an attempt to find something to wear. She was frustrated that she had to have her mom drop her off at this bonfire since she didn’t have her license yet. But most of all, she was frustrated that she had to even go in the first place and be in the presence of one Champ Hardy.

As she stares blankly at the piles of clothes on her bed, she is startled out of her trance as her phone vibrates on the nightstand next to her. Picking it up, she sees it is a message from Chrissy.

_Chrissy (4:10 pm): Hey! How’s it coming over there? We’re leaving now._

_Nicole (4:11 pm): Ugh...not good...I’m about ready to just say screw it and stay home_

_Chrissy (4:12 pm): NOOOOO!!!! You absolutely cannot do that! What’s the problem?_

_Nicole (4:14 pm): I have no idea what to wear…_

_Chrissy (4:16 pm): That’s it? That’s the big issue?_

_Nicole (4:17 pm): Yes that’s the big issue...I can’t just show up in my birthday suit!_

_Chrissy (4:19 pm): While I’m sure there would be people who would not complain if you did that ;) probably not the best choice...ooh do you have anything purple?_

_Nicole (4:21 pm): ??? Why purple?_

_Chrissy: (4:22 pm): Doesn’t matter...do you or not?_

Nicole’s eyes drift over to the light purple and grey flannel at the foot end of the bed. _I could wear that over my Fleetwood Mac t-shirt and pair it with some rolled jeans and my grey Converse..._

_Nicole (4:24 pm): Yeah I have something purple that could work_

_Chrissy (4:25 pm): Fantastic!!! Wear that and then get your butt heading to Champ’s ASAP!_

_Nicole (4:27 pm): Alright if you say so…_

_Chrissy (4:29 pm): That’s what I thought! We will be anxiously waiting for you to arrive!_

Nicole tosses her phone on the bed as she rummages through the clothes to find everything for the outfit she envisioned. _We will be anxiously waiting? We? Is that even true now Chrissy? It’s not like I have talked to Waverly lately. And when I have seen her, she hasn’t looked that overjoyed to see me._

The redhead tries to push those thoughts out of her head as she finishes getting dressed and ties up her grey high top Converse. Taking one last look in the mirror and being pleased with what she sees, Nicole grabs her phone and starts heading downstairs to find her mom.

“Mom?” Nicole calls out but gets no response, “Mom, where are you?”

The girl then hears a small crash from her mom’s bedroom, laden with some profanities, making it pretty easy for her to figure out where she was. Nicole walks down the hallway towards her room and very cautiously opens the door.

“Umm...is everything ok in here?” Nicole peeks around the door to find her mom in the closet, stepping down from a small step stool with a couple boxes of contents strewn out over the floor.

A flustered Katherine quickly stuffs something into her pocket before turning around to face her daughter, “Yes, everything’s fine! Just me being my usual clumsy self!”

Nicole walks into the room and starts making her way towards the closet, “Do you need some help with that?”

“No it’s ok! I can get it!” Katherine grabs a blanket that is within reach and throws it over some of the items on the floor. “Besides, isn’t there somewhere we need to be getting you?”

Nicole raises an eyebrow at her mother, “I mean yes there is but I want to visit this sketchier than normal behavior going on right now with you...”

The elder Haught steps out of the closet and turns off the light, “I have no idea what you are talking about...I’m just trying to keep you from going back in the closet.”

“Good to know you didn’t lose your sense of humor in there with whatever else you were looking for.” Nicole rolls her eyes and smirks as she sees her mom standing there with a giant smile on her face, obviously thoroughly pleased with the joke she just made.

“I’m pretty sure the closet would have just kicked you right back out anyway after seeing what you have on for this bonfire tonight! You look very handsome Nic...handsome? Stylish? Sharp? I’m not really sure what you prefer?”

“I think stylish works this time, Mom, and thank you. I think I’m all ready to go now then...are you ready to drop me off?”

Katherine walks over to Nicole and puts her arm around her shoulder, “Yeah kiddo we can get going. I’m gonna grab my wallet and keys and you make sure to grab a jacket to take with you because it will be cold later on tonight.”

Nicole gives a quick salute to her mom and makes her way to the coat rack near the front door to get her letterman’s jacket. Katherine bought it for her as a late birthday gift last year after Nicole lettered in both football and basketball as a freshman and it was one of Nicole’s most prized possessions. The now sophomore not only liked the way it looked on her but also the sense of pride it gave her for her accomplishments. When the weather allowed it, Nicole never took it off.

Having everything they need, the two Haught women get into the car and head off towards Champ’s house. As Katherine turns onto the last road before the Hardy residence, she slows down the car a bit and addresses her daughter, “Now I’m not going to have anything to worry about with this party tonight, am I?”

“No ma’am...just a simple bonfire with some of our classmates. It might actually turn out to be pretty boring honestly.”

Just as Nicole finishes her sentence, up ahead on the road two ATVs come flying up out of the ditch and jump over to the ditch on the other side of the road. Nicole was pretty sure the drivers were none other than Champ Hardy and Pete York. _Idiots._ Startled a bit, Katherine slightly slams on her brakes and looks over at her daughter sternly.

“Doesn’t seem very boring to me, young lady. I’m not so sure about this.”

“Mom, c’mon...you have to trust me! I can make better decisions than those two boys, believe me. You have nothing to worry about.”

Katherine comes to a complete stop at the end of the driveway and places the car in park, “I do trust you, honey, but the others not so much. Are you going to need me to pick you up tonight?”

“I don’t think so...I’m going to try and catch a ride back to town with a friend so I don’t have to bother you again.” Nicole gathers up her things and goes to reach for the door handle.

“Nic! Before you go...can you promise me something?”

Nicole can hear the genuine concern in her mother’s voice and takes her hand off the handle and turns towards her, “Yeah Mom, what’s up?”

Katherine places her hand on Nicole’s knee, “Just promise me that if things do start going south, you will call me to come pick you up. I would much rather hear your voice on the other end of the phone at 2 am than some stranger’s.”

Nicole’s thoughts instantly jump to how her mom must have felt the day she expected to be greeted by her husband and instead opened the door to his captain bearing the bad news. The younger Haught taps the top of her mother’s hand to reassure her, “Don’t worry...everything is going to be just fine tonight but if it isn’t, you are my number one speed dial.”

“Ok, thank you.” Katherine watches her only daughter open the door and exit the vehicle. Before Nicole starts to head up the driveway, Katherine calls out to her once more, “I love you, Nic!”

“I love you too, Mom.” Nicole turns and starts making her way up the long driveway towards the garage and backyard area where she sees a lot of her classmates already congregating. Most of the girls are near the garage where the music and refreshments have been set up, while the guys are roughhousing and showing off in the yard in view of the girls. _This is going to be a complete shit show tonight._

Just as that thought crosses her mind, Nicole spots Waverly standing next to Chrissy right in front of the garage and her jaw completely drops. _She looks absolutely gorgeous tonight...not that she doesn’t any other time, but damn. Purple looks really good on her...wait a minute...purple...fucking Chrissy._

Briefly forgetting how to walk, Nicole quickly snaps out of it as Champ and Pete go flying by her on the ATVs. All of a sudden, several feet ahead of her, Champ hits the brakes and looks back at her, “I see you did decide to join us tonight after all, huh?”

“Against my better judgment I suppose I did.”

Champ smirks as he sees Nicole eyeing the four wheelers, “I know you’re...kind of a girl, so I’m sure you would feel more comfortable joining the rest of them in the garage so go ahead and make yourself at home.”

Nicole rolls her eyes in disgust, “You know that’s kinda funny because I was thinking that the four wheeler seat was looking mighty comfy if I was being honest. Pete, would you mind switching me places?”

“Oh, umm...yeah...sure!” Pete shuts off the ATV and hops off next to Champ, gesturing for Nicole to go ahead and take the vehicle.

The redhead gives Champ a small smirk of her own, swings her leg across the seat to sit down, then turns and looks at the boy, “No helmets, huh? Football concussions not enough for ya?”

“If you can handle her good enough, then there’s no need for helmets.” Champ chuckles and outstretches his arm to fist bump Pete.

It takes all the willpower Nicole can muster to not throw up in her mouth after that statement but she manages to regain her composure, “Agree to disagree, I guess.”

Champ watches as Nicole gets settled into position and interjects as her hand moves closer to starting the vehicle, “You need us to show yo--”

Before he can even finish his question, Nicole has the four wheeler started again with her hand hovering near the clutch, ready to put the vehicle into gear. “I think I got it handled.” She makes a sweeping gesture with her arm, “By all means, after you.”

* * *

Waverly and Chrissy arrived just after a bunch of their classmates it seemed as one of the only few open spots to park the car was towards the end of the driveway off in the grass. After parking, the two girls gathered their things and made their way towards the garage as that seemed to be where everything was set up for the moment.

The brunette scanned the crowd to see that the usual suspects were here at this party: the York brothers, some guys on the football team, some of her fellow cheerleaders, and unfortunately she also spotted Stephanie Jones and Beth Gardner lurking in the back corner of the garage. _That’s odd for Stephanie to be so engrossed in her phone and not front and center like always…_

“Damn Waves,” Champ whistles as he approaches the now startled girls. “Who let you come to this party looking that fine?”

“No one has to let her do anything you--”

Waverly firmly pokes her best friend in the side to quiet her, “I think everyone tries to come to a party looking their best right?”

Champ’s eyes scan up and down again and Waverly can feel Chrissy getting more and more tense next to her, “I’m just saying, you even exceeded my expectations...”

Chrissy turns to Waverly with a look that screams this is not about to end well for Champ. If Waverly knows one thing for sure about Chrissy it’s that she will always put people in their place when it comes to her. Thankfully for her, just as Chrissy is about to obliterate Champ at his own party, Pete comes up and puts Champ in a headlock.

“Dude! Are we gonna get these four wheelers out or what?”

A brief flash of annoyance crosses Champ’s face at the interruption until he thinks about being able to show off in front of the girls, “The four wheelers seem to be calling to us...you’ll have to excuse us ladies.”

The two guys take off running towards the shed beside the garage and Chrissy mutters under her breath, “I’ll excuse your face is what I’ll do...”

“Are you done yet?” Waverly lightly backhands Chrissy with a smirk on her face. “That boy-man is practically harmless.”

“Harmless?! Champ Hardy is hardly harmless...more like harmful to my brain cells.”

Waverly looks at Chrissy with a playful sternness, “Are you going to be this much fun all night?”

“I’m gonna be a riot tonight, you just wait and see.” Chrissy slowly starts walking backwards, “I’m gonna grab some punch, do you want some?”

Waverly takes her keys out of her pocket and shakes them in the air, “You and I both know that punch is probably spiked. Can you just grab me a water?”

Chrissy gives her a small salute and heads off to the back of the garage where all the refreshments are set up. Waverly takes this opportunity to really look at who is all here at this party. Champ and Pete were out on the ATVs, most of the other boys were out messing around and throwing the football, Stephanie and Beth were plotting god knows what in the corner, and the few other girls that were there were gossiping just outside the garage. Waverly would never admit it to anyone else, but she was really looking to see if one specific person showed up even if she was still hurt by what happened a couple weeks ago. Her search came up empty though.

As Chrissy makes her way back, she notices Waverly analyzing all the people at the party. _You are so predictable sometimes Waverly Earp._ Shaking her head, Chrissy closes the gap between them and reaches the water out to Waverly, “Whatcha doing?”

“N-nothing! Just seeing who is all here tonight. There’s a few people missing that I thought would be here already.”

Chrissy smirks and nonchalantly takes a sip of her punch, “A few people missing or just a certain redhead?”

“Nicole and I aren’t on the best of terms right now.”

Chrissy looks at Waverly completely dumbfounded, “Does she know that? What the hell could possibly be going on with you guys now?”

Waverly looks down at the ground sheepishly, “Well...I mean...she probably really doesn’t know why I have been avoiding her. I guess we might need to talk about it...”

Chrissy looks up ahead towards the driveway to see Nicole has now arrived and Champ and Pete have stopped her on her way up, “Well Waves, you might wanna come up with something soon.”

Waverly looks over at her best friend, slightly confused, and then looks over to where Chrissy was gesturing to see Nicole talking to Champ and Pete in the middle of the driveway. Pete was getting off the four wheeler and Nicole was walking towards it. _Is she about to ride that? No way she’s about to--_

Waverly’s brain quickly short circuits as she watches Nicole effortlessly plant one foot on the side of the ATV and swing her other leg over to the right side, easing herself down on the seat. She watches as Nicole places both hands on the handles, the muscles in her arms contracting under her purple flannel with the rolled up sleeves. She sees her exchange some words with Champ and then watches as they take off, Nicole’s short, wavy, red hair flowing beautifully through the wind.

Chrissy is watching the entire time as Waverly essentially has a gay panic, even though the girl would never call it that due to her own denial. _I swear if this girl doesn’t figure out what is going on here with Nicole soon, I’m going to have to knock her upside the head. I mean I would pick the most difficult girl to be best friends with..._

Chrissy places her hand underneath Waverly’s chin and lifts up, “You might wanna put your jaw back where it belongs...we don’t want people getting the wrong idea.”

Waverly quickly closes her mouth and her cheeks instantly become flushed, “Are you ever not obnoxious?”

“You realize who you are talking to right?”

Waverly narrows her eyes and looks directly at her best friend, “I do...and what might people be getting the wrong idea about? I was just watching them ride the four wheelers.”

Chrissy can’t help the snort that escapes her mouth, “You mean you were eye fucking one of them as they were riding the four wheeler.”

“Oh my god, Chrissy! I was not!”

Chrissy crosses her arms over her chest, “Methinks the lady doth protest too much...I mean as long as it wasn’t Champ then I don’t really care if you were.”

Waverly raises her eyebrow at the blonde, “And what if it was him?”

Chrissy makes a bunch of gagging noises as she struggles to get the words out, “Oh my God...nope...can we please not even joke about that?”

“You gonna be alright there?” Waverly smirks as Chrissy continues with her dramatics.

“I’m pretty sure I just threw up in my mouth a little...”

“Well it is a good thing that Stephanie and Beth are getting the s’mores supplies out. We should go get that vomit taste out of your mouth.” Waverly puts her arm around Chrissy’s shoulder and the two girls join the rest of their classmates around the fire.

A few minutes later, Nicole and Champ resurface as it is starting to get dark outside. They take the ATVs to the shed just beyond the garage and then start making their way up towards the fire. Waverly didn’t say so out loud but seeing those two together had to be the most uncomfortable thing she has seen in a while. There really couldn’t be two more different people within five feet of each other at this party if they tried and Waverly could feel the tension all the way across the yard.

“So Haught, I have to admit, you surprised me a bit with being able to ride.”

Nicole rolls her eyes before turning to address Champ, “And why is that Champ? Because I’m a girl?”

Champ gets a snide look on his face before getting unacceptably close to Nicole and whispers in her ear, “Nah...mostly because you’re a lesbian and I didn’t think you guys were good at that.”

Nicole stops dead in her tracks as she is shocked by what just came out of Champ’s mouth. Her face instantly heats up and she tries to fight back the bile in the back of her throat. She didn’t think it was possible for so many disgusting qualities to be in one person, yet there Champ Hardy stood in front of her, looking all too pleased with himself.

Realizing Nicole was not going to respond to his comment, Champ twists the knife in further before jogging off towards the party, “Don’t worry though, I’ll make sure to teach Waverly too.”

The redhead waits for Champ to get far enough away from her and then shakily starts walking towards the garage, trying to keep herself from heaving along the way. Out of the corner of her eye, Chrissy sees Nicole place her arm on the side of the garage to steady herself and becomes concerned.

“Hey Waves, I’m going to be right back so save me some s’mores ok?”

Waverly looks over at Chrissy confusedly, “Is everything alright?”

Chrissy brushes her off. _Telling her at this point would only make things worse. I mean I don’t even know what is technically going on yet._ “Yep! It’s all good! Did you need anything from the garage at all?”

“Nope! Got my water, chocolate, and a sketchy best friend so I think that’s all I should need...”

“Cool, cool...be right back!” Chrissy shoots a finger gun Waverly’s way and scurries off quickly towards the garage and the last place she saw Nicole, leaving a very bewildered Waverly in her wake.

Chrissy gets just inside the garage and is very confused to find it completely empty, or so it seemed. As she goes to get a punch refill, the blonde sees a pair of grey Converse sticking out from the back corner of the building. Cautiously walking over, Chrissy sees Nicole sitting on the ground, knees against her chest, trying to take deep breaths.

Chrissy slowly crouches down in front of Nicole to become eye level with her, “Haught...are you ok? I don’t think I have ever seen you like this before and it’s more than slightly concerning.”

Nicole continues to stare off into space without speaking so Chrissy tries another approach as she reaches her hand out to place it on her knee, “Nicole...did something happen with you and Champ?”

“Can we please not talk about it?” Nicole turns her head to make eye contact with Chrissy and about breaks Chrissy’s heart when she does. The usual cockiness and twinkle is gone and in its absence, a vacant darkness had overcome the girl.

Just as quickly as Chrissy felt the empathy for Nicole, came the ire she felt for Champ. Chrissy quickly pushes herself up off the ground and is heading away from Nicole faster than Nicole can even comprehend. “If Hardy thinks he can just do whatever he wants and get away with it!”

“No, Chrissy! Just wait!” Nicole calls out as she tries to pick herself up off the ground to stop her from confronting him, but this girl is on a mission to embarrass Champ Hardy in front of the entire class at his own party.

Nicole manages to catch up with Chrissy as she steps just outside the garage. Both girls look over in the fire’s direction to see Champ now talking with Waverly. Chrissy brings her hand up to her face in exasperation, “Damn it! I leave her alone for five minutes and that vulture has already swooped in.”

Nicole and Chrissy observe this interaction for a few moments and see Waverly laugh at something Champ has apparently said to her. Nicole then sees Waverly place her hand on Champ’s arm while continuing to smile and decides she has seen enough and points towards Chrissy’s drink, “That punch is spiked right?”

“Umm...yes?”

“That doesn’t sound very reassuring, Chris.”

“I’m sorry, I’m still processing the fact that that question just came out of your mouth.” Chrissy watches as the football player leaves her side and beelines for the punch bowl. “Excuse me, what are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing Chrissy? I’m going to get myself some punch...” Nicole proceeds to pour herself a glass and down it in one drink. She fills the cup once more and again chugs the glass. 

On the third refill, Chrissy is finally able to bring herself out of her shock and runs over to Nicole. “What the hell do you think you are doing?! You can’t just chug that much alcohol in less than a minute!”

“And why not?”

The fiery look is back in Nicole’s eyes but Chrissy has a feeling this is not a good thing in this instance. “Because you are gonna be super drunk when that all finally hits you here soon!”

“Well perfect then...” 

Nicole fills her cup for the fourth time and Chrissy grabs the ladle out of Nicole’s hands. “Nicole, c’mon! What has gotten into you?”

The redhead lifts her glass up towards Chrissy, “Don’t worry…….this one is...coming with me!”

“Great...your speech is already getting slower...as if I didn’t have enough stuff to worry about tonight. You two are exhausting!”

Before she knows it, Nicole is walking towards where Waverly is sitting by the fire and so Chrissy quickly follows suit. The blonde catches up to Nicole just as she is about to plop down next to Waverly and sticks her arm in her armpit to gently help her to the ground so she doesn’t topple over. _Sweet Jesus, Nicole...I knew this wasn’t going to end well._

Waverly looks over at Chrissy and Nicole as Nicole barely manages to sit down without spilling her punch everywhere, “Umm...is everything ok here?”

Chrissy rushes to jump in before Nicole can open her mouth, “Yep! All good here! Did you save me that s’more?”

“As a matter of fact, I did!” Waverly picks up the treat sitting on her leg and hands it over to her best friend.

Chrissy grabs the chocolate, marshmallow, and graham cracker goodness and immediately shoves it in Nicole’s face, “Here, eat this at least if you’re not gonna eat anything else.”

“Chris, I thought you--” Chrissy gestures for Waverly to stop talking so that Nicole continues to eat this s’more and get something in her stomach besides alcohol.

_Waverly (7:38 pm): What is going on Chrissy?_

_Chrissy (7:39 pm): Nothing! Everything’s fine Waves_

_Waverly (7:41 pm): Everything is not fine...I specifically saved that back for you because you asked me to!_

_Chrissy (7:43 pm): Yeah well this one over here needed it more than I did_

_Waverly (7:44 pm): Again...what is that supposed to mean?_

It takes a moment for Waverly to really look at Nicole sitting in between the two friends and taking a sip of punch for a light bulb to finally go off in Waverly’s head.

_Waverly (7:46 pm): IS NICOLE DRUNK?!_

_Chrissy (7:47 pm): I mean...she might be just a teensy bit drunk..._

_Waverly (7:48 pm): She can’t get caught drinking because of sports! Oh this is not good…_

Just as Waverly sends the last text message a couple of cars pull up to the party. She shoots Chrissy a look that basically screamed ‘we are going to get her out of here if we need to and you are going to help me’. Luckily for the girls, a group of teenagers starts piling out of the vehicles. Much to Waverly’s dismay, as the teens get closer, she recognizes one of them from the other day. _You have got to be kidding me right now...what is she doing here?_

Champ gets up from his spot by the fire to confront these new guests, “Who the hell are you and what are you doing at my house?”

A beautiful, dark haired girl steps forward and emerges as the leader of the group, “We heard you guys were having a party tonight and we just didn’t wanna miss out on the fun.”

“And who is we? I don’t exactly recognize you from school.”

The girl flashes Champ a smile, “That’s because we don’t go to Purgatory...we go to East High.” Shae reaches out her hand to Champ, “I’m Shae, by the way.”

Champ ignores the outstretched hand and eyes the rest of the group with Shae, “How did you know we were having a party tonight?”

Shae flashes Nicole a quick look and a coy smile that wasn’t lost on Waverly, “A little birdie might have told us something about it.” Over by the fire, Stephanie smiles to herself as she listens to the girl she has been texting the past couple of weeks.

“Well that birdie is mistaken...we don’t party with the enemy.”

“Aww, c’mon Champ, do we have to be enemies tonight? I mean we brought more booze...”

“Well why didn’t you lead with that? Anyone who brings more booze can join the party! We were just about to start playing a game so this is perfect timing.”

Shae gestures for the guys to go put the rest of the alcohol in the garage and then turns her attention back towards Champ, “And what game might that be?”

“Seven minutes in heaven...ever played?”

Shae makes quick eye contact with Nicole, who is oblivious and in her own little drunken world, and Waverly tenses up next to her. _Is Nicole the one who invited them over here? Has she been talking to Shae this whole time?_

“I mean...not with you guys so this should be fun...”

Champ beckons them to come join the group by the fire, “By all means, come mingle with everyone before we start playing.”

The East High kids spread out amongst the crowd and Waverly watches as Shae inevitably starts heading in their direction. _Fantastic...now I have to worry about Shae flirting with a drunk Nicole..._

“Hey there Haught stuff! Looks like a pretty great party you guys got going on here.” Waverly moves closer to Nicole so their arms are touching when she hears the flirting come immediately out of Shae’s mouth.

“I s’pose it’s not too bad now is it?” Waverly can tell in Nicole’s voice that she is definitely not her normal self right now and clenches her jaw as she tries to avoid saying anything to Shae right now and causing a scene.

Chrissy looks over at her best friend and notices how stiff Waverly’s entire body became as soon as this girl walked up to them. The whole atmosphere around them had changed from just worried about Nicole to being protective of her. Chrissy wasn’t quite sure what the history was between these three, but she was sure that she had not seen Waverly this protective, not even with her.

“I don’t think we’ve met yet,” Shae sticks her hand out in Chrissy’s direction. “My name is Shae and you are?...”

Chrissy hesitantly grabs the girl’s hand, “I’m Chrissy...how do you know Nicole?”

“Oh! We met the other day after the football game! I just had to introduce myself when I saw how this one played over here.” Shae smirks at Nicole and her face starts to heat up. As hard as Waverly tries not to, hers does as well but for a completely different reason.

Shae then turns her attention towards Waverly, “And you’re Waverly right? I make it a point to know all the cheerleaders from the other schools...especially one as good as you!”

“Is that so?” Waverly manages to eke out the words through gritted teeth while Chrissy mentally cringes at the possibility of how bad this conversation could go right now.

Chrissy laughs uncomfortably, “What she meant to say was thank you and that she is in fact Waverly Earp. Isn’t that right Waverly?”

Waverly throws daggers with her eyes at Chrissy and then puts on the fakest smile the blonde has ever seen on her best friend when she turns towards Shae, “Yes that is right...sorry my manners seemed to have escaped me there for a second.”

“No big deal!” Shae brushes off the comment from Waverly and turns her attention back to Nicole, “I’m going to go talk to a couple other people quick too but I had to come see you first.”

The brunette stands her ground and stays right next to Nicole as she watches Shae step in front of Nicole, turn to her snidely, and then ‘whispers’ in the ear closest to Waverly while making eye contact with her, “Thanks for inviting us to this party...I really hope we get to do what we talked about later.”

Waverly bites her lip in order to keep the words she wanted to say from spilling out all over the place as Shae walks away. Chrissy looks over at Nicole and Waverly with a baffled look on her face, “What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know...why don’t we ask Nicole what that was because it was apparently something.”

Nicole brings her hand up to her forehead and starts massaging it, “I’m lost...I haven’t talked to her since the night at the football game.”

“Are you really lost or just forgetting because you are drunk?”

“Are you upset with me for having a little fun at a party?”

“Oh so now being drunk at a party is considered just a little fun? Why don’t you tell my dead parents and sister that?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa...ok now guys c’mon!” Chrissy steps in between the two and stops the argument before it gets any worse. Nicole looks like her heart just shattered into a million pieces and Waverly has tears forming in her eyes. “Waves...your lip...it’s bleeding.”

Waverly reaches up to touch her lip and as she pulls her finger away, blood comes with it. “Excuse me while I go take care of this.”

Nicole looks down at the empty cup in her hands, “Oh look, I need a refill.”

Chrissy watches the two girls head in opposite directions and puts her hand over her face. _Ugh...this is not how tonight was supposed to go AT ALL! What a disaster..._

By the time Waverly gets back from the bathroom and Nicole out of the garage with another full glass, Champ has gathered everyone still left at the party in a small circle between the fire and the shed. “Who’s ready to play a game?”

The guys from both schools start whooping and hollering as Champ continues, “Rules are pretty simple...we have this empty vodka bottle here. We’re going to sit in a circle and spin it around and whoever it lands on, you go with them in the shed and have your seven minutes in heaven doing whatever you want. So let’s go ahead and circle up!”

Waverly and Chrissy sit down next to each other with a few East High people in between them. Waverly watches as Shae sits down next to Nicole and the fire within her starts burning hotter than the bonfire ablaze next to them. Stephanie, Beth, Pete, Champ, and a few others that came along with Shae also find a place to sit in the circle.

Champ turns to Stephanie and hands her the bottle, “Steph, why don’t you go first and kick us off? We all know you aren’t shy!”

Stephanie puts on a shy, hard to get persona and Chrissy thinks she might actually throw up. _Punching her in the face just the one time was not satisfying enough._ Steph places the bottle on the ground and gives it a good spin. After a couple times around, it ends up landing on one of the football players from East High and the two head off into the shed.

After what seemed like forever, Champ called time and the two emerged from the shed, both looking completely pleased with themselves. Stephanie saunters back over to where she was sitting while the East High boy tries to wipe the pink tint from his lips on his way back. Champ then grabs the bottle again and hands it to Pete for his turn.

Beth watches on impatiently as Pete spins the bottle, willing the bottle to stop on her so she can finally have Pete alone for a few minutes without Champ always being there. By some miracle, the bottle does stop on Beth and Stephanie subtly hits her leg a couple times in excitement before Beth practically sprints off to join Pete in the shed.

If Champ is going around the circle in order as he seems to be, that means Nicole is up next. Waverly looks over to see how she is doing, even though she is still upset with her, and is sorry that she did. Shae is apparently still trying to get her talons into Nicole as she continues to have a seemingly hilarious conversation with her and then proceeds to place her hand on Nicole’s leg.

Chrissy leans in to her best friend as she sees her staring in Nicole’s direction, “Waves...if your knuckles get any whiter, I’m gonna have to call them basic. What is with this girl that bothers you so much?”

“Do you not see what she is doing with Nicole right now?”

“You mean talking to her? Yes, we must call the authorities straight away.”

Waverly glares at her best friend, “Of course she can talk to her but does she need to be touching and flirting with her too?”

“Is someone jealous?”

“No! I never said that!” Chrissy shakes her head at Waverly as Champ calls time on Pete and Beth and they step out of the shed. _That’s because you didn’t have to say it Waves..._

Beth looks completely smitten as she goes to sit down and Pete looks like he’s not sure what just hit him. Waverly couldn’t focus much on that though because it was now Nicole’s turn and she was pretty sure she was going to be sick. 

She watches as Champ hands Nicole the bottle and Nicole sets it on the ground in front of her. Nicole’s hand grasps the bottle and she winds up the spin before letting the bottle go. Waverly can’t take her eyes off of it spinning around and around again for what seems like forever. The bottle starts slowing down and Waverly can’t stop her mind from racing. _I want it to land on me but then I don’t. I’m not ready for it to land on me but I don’t want it to land on anyone else either. Oh my God, whatever happens though it CANNOT land on Shae. Please anyone but her._

Waverly holds her breath as the bottle is coming to a stop dangerously close to landing on Shae. By sheer willpower or just a lucky breeze, the bottle moves off of Shae and comes to a stop right in front of the Purgatory cheerleader. Nicole cannot believe what just happened as Champ frustratingly announces that Nicole and Waverly need to head to the shed together.

Nicole chugs the rest of her drink and drops the cup to the ground, heading to the shed without even looking in Waverly’s direction. Waverly has no idea how she is managing to get up and walk to the shed after Nicole but she is. Nicole is already inside by the time she gets there, so Waverly takes a deep breath, steps inside, and closes the door behind her.

The redhead looks up as she hears the door shut and is actually surprised to see Waverly standing just inside, “I figured you would bail and find some excuse to not join me.”

“Well, rules are rules right? The bottle chose fair and square.”

A quick smile flashes across Nicole’s face and is gone as quickly as it appeared, “Look...we obviously don’t need to do anything while we are in here but will you at least come closer and talk with me?”

“I suppose I can do that.” Waverly gets within a couple feet of Nicole and looks up at her, “What do you want to talk about?”

A somber expression washes over Nicole’s face, “I’m sorry for our argument earlier. I had no idea it was a drunk driving accident Waves.”

Waverly shrugs her shoulders, “How would you have known?”

“It doesn’t matter, it still doesn’t excuse my behavior tonight and for that I am sorry.”

“Daddy was an alcoholic...everyone knew that. It was a matter of time before something bad happened. I just wish my mom and sister didn’t have to be victims of it as well.”

A heavy silence befell the room as Waverly shed a few small tears. Nicole couldn’t stand to see Waverly this way and before her intoxicated brain could tell her any better, Nicole walks up to the girl and wraps her gently in her arms. A startled Waverly tenses up at first and then welcomes the embrace as she wraps her arms around Nicole back. Taking a deep breath in, she is comforted by a familiar smell. _Vanilla dipped doughnuts._

The embrace is cut short by the shock of Waverly’s cold skin touching Nicole’s, “Waves! You are freezing right now! What is it with you and not properly being dressed for the weather?”

Waverly takes a step back from Nicole and laughs as she wipes the tears from her face, “I am fine...you just worry too much.”

“Waverly Earp, I can literally see you shaking from over here.”

Waverly wasn’t about to admit that it wasn’t just the cold that was making her shiver. That the feeling of Nicole’s body that close to hers was reason enough. Before she can come up with a good comeback, Nicole is taking off her letterman’s jacket and placing it over her shoulders.

“What are you doing? Now you’re gonna be cold.”

Nicole rolls her eyes as she lets go of the jacket, “I am going to be just fine. You need it a lot more than I do right now.”

Waverly looks condescendly over to Nicole, “That’s just because you have the alcohol still flowing through your system to keep you plenty warm.”

All of a sudden, the girls hear an absolute ruckus start up outside as they hear kids scrambling, police sirens, and see red and blue flashing lights through the window of the shed. The two girls are standing directly in front of the window and so Waverly springs into action, pushing Nicole up against the wall of the shed with one arm on either side of her. 

Nicole is pretty sure she has stopped breathing at this point as all she can feel is the weight of Waverly’s body pressing hers against the shed. The girls lock eyes and the tension in the air is so thick, it could be cut with a knife. Nicole looks down at Waverly’s mouth and back up to her eyes again and Waverly brings herself even closer to Nicole’s face.

Reaching her hand up to Nicole’s lips, Waverly places her index finger on them and leans in to whisper in Nicole’s ear, “Give me just a minute to think...I am going to get you out of this.”

At this point, Nicole’s brain is far from thinking straight. _Get me out of this situation or out of these clothes because honestly right now, I would be fine with either!_

Nicole is literally snapped out of her sexy daydream by Waverly snapping her fingers in front of her face, “Did you hear what I said? I have a plan but we need to go now! Do you trust me?”

“Of course I trust you!” Waverly takes this as all the approval she needs to do what she has to do and she grabs onto Nicole’s hand and drags her to the back of the shed where there is another single door. The brunette opens the door ever so slightly and peeks out to see what they are dealing with.

It is absolute chaos by the bonfire right now as kids are still trying to escape while the cops are chasing after them. This chaos is exactly what Waverly needs though for her plan to work. She looks back at Nicole who is looking at her with the most wide, panicked eyes she has ever seen on the girl and she knows she needs to do something to ground her right now.

Waverly lets go of Nicole’s hand and brings both of them up to either side of Nicole’s face and looks her directly in the eyes, “Hey! We are gonna pull this off right now, you got it? Whatever you do, just try to not fall which I know is gonna be hard, and don’t let go of my hand ok?”

Nicole nods her head in agreement and grabs onto Waverly’s hand. Waverly sees her opportunity to make a break for the back of the garage and she flings open the door, pulling Nicole as she tries to make it to the cover of the garage undetected. They make it behind the garage and glide their way up to the side of the garage so that the garage is now in between them and the chaos.

This is where things got tricky now and Waverly wasn’t quite sure how they were going to make it over to the car without getting caught. The brunette scrambles to take in her surroundings and see if there is anything that is going to aid in their escape. After a few moments, that’s when she spots it. The football the guys were playing with earlier is just a few feet ahead of them, laying in the grass.

Waverly turns to Nicole and lets go of her hand, “I need you to stay here for just a second and then I am going to need your help with something. Think you can do that?”

Nicole nods her head vehemently as she watches Waverly peek around the corner to make sure the coast is clear and then before she knows it, Waverly is dashing out to grab something in the grass and then making her way back to her. As the cheerleader gets back, Nicole can see that she has a football in her hands.

Waverly hands the football over to Nicole, “Do you think you can create a distraction with this?”

Nicole looks up from the football at Waverly with a nervous look in her eyes, “You know I’m a wide receiver right?”

Waverly narrows her eyes at Nicole, “Of course I know what position you play. I don’t need accuracy here...I just need you to throw the football over the garage and try to hit the shed to make noise.”

“Ok...ok...I think I should be able to manage that.”

“Perfect! Once that is done, I’m going to grab onto your hand again and we are gonna make a run for Wynonna’s car without looking back ok?”

Nicole gives her a thumbs up as she readies the football in her hand. She takes a deep breath, pulls back her arm to wind up the throw, and launches the football over the garage. After what feels like an eternity, the girls hear the football hit the shed and the cops all immediately head in that direction. Waverly flashes Nicole a big grin as she quickly snatches up her hand and the girls make a run for the car.

As they get to the car, Waverly opens the passenger door and gets Nicole inside, barely shutting the door to make sure they don’t make noise to draw attention their way. The brunette then races around the front end to get in the driver’s seat and turn the car on. As the car turns on, Waverly immediately shuts all the lights off to avoid detection and speeds out onto the road. Once the girls are a safe distance away from Champ’s they both let out the huge breath they had been holding for so long.

“Holy shit, Waves! You did it!”

Waverly slightly eases up on the steering wheel as she gives Nicole a quick smile, “You mean we did it.”

Nicole shoves Waverly in the arm, “No, you did it...if it was up to just me I would have been a passed out drunken mess that got caught back there so thank you.”

“You’re welcome...I wasn’t just going to leave you there all alone.”

A comfortable silence comes across the vehicle as both girls take this time to reflect on everything that went down tonight. Champ’s party was once again one that everyone was going to be talking about for a while and all the ramifications wouldn’t be unearthed until school on Monday but for now, all Nicole and Waverly knew was that they were safe.

Waverly pulls into Nicole’s driveway and turns off the car, “Well, this is you!”

Nicole takes her seatbelt off and turns her body towards Waverly, “That it is...Waves...thanks again for--”

Waverly puts her hand up to stop Nicole, “No need to thank me...I just did the exact same thing you would have done for me. Plus, who was I going to cheer for during basketball season if the star player was sidelined? Now go inside and get some sleep ok?”

Nicole gives Waverly a small salute and turns to open the car door. Waverly waits to hear the door shut but instead hears Nicole fall to the ground as she was reaching back for the door, “Oh my God, Nicole, are you alright?!”

Waverly jumps out of the car and runs over to Nicole who is laying on the ground laughing, “I guess the adrenaline hid how drunk I am earlier...”

“Well let’s get you to your room then, huh?” Waverly stoops down to grab underneath Nicole’s arm and get her back on her feet. She then places Nicole’s arm around her shoulder as a steadying force for the girl. They slowly make their way up to the front door and Waverly nudges Nicole who seems to be falling asleep now standing up.

“Do you have your keys, Nicole?”

“In your...pocket...”

_In my pocket?_ Waverly looks down and remembers that Nicole had given her her jacket before all this went down and chastises herself for forgetting. She reaches into the pocket of the jacket and pulls out Nicole’s keys and quietly opens the door. The two girls get inside and somehow Waverly manages to sneak Nicole upstairs without her mom hearing.

Waverly throws back the covers to Nicole’s bed and sits her down on the edge to work on untying the gray Converse Nicole was wearing. She gets the shoes off the girl, instructs her to lay down, and then tucks Nicole into bed.

Nicole looks up at Waverly and becomes slightly overwhelmed, “Waverly...you are so pretty and I like you so much!”

Waverly is taken aback by this admission from Nicole but knows she can only take it with a grain of salt, “You are drunk, Nicole, and you need to go to sleep now.”

Nicole mumbles to herself as Waverly starts to walk away, “Drunk or not, it’s true.” Then just like that, Nicole passes out, leaving Waverly with an uneasy feeling in her stomach. _That alcohol affected her again really fast and out of nowhere...maybe I should stay behind for just a bit to make sure she’s going to be ok._

Waverly spots a rocking chair over in the corner of Nicole’s room so she carefully brings it over to Nicole’s side of the bed, and sets it down a few feet in front of her. Before she goes to sit down, Waverly walks over to Nicole as she is sleeping and brushes the hair out of her face and behind her ear. _You’re really pretty too ya know..._

About twenty minutes passes by and Katherine quietly comes into Nicole’s room. She was awake from the moment the girls walked in and if she was being honest, there was no way she was going to be able to sleep until she knew Nicole was home safe anyway. The scene she walked in on was quite adorable but she went back out for just a moment to get something she needed.

As Katherine returns to the room, she approaches a sleeping Waverly in the rocking chair and places the blanket on top of just the girl’s legs as she was still wearing Nicole’s letterman’s jacket. She takes a quick look at Nicole and makes sure she is doing ok also and then takes out her phone to take another picture of the girls sleeping to add to the collection. _We are gonna need these someday to embarrass you in front of your children._

Katherine returns to her room and the rest of the night passes without issue, or so it seemed. Waverly wakes up to the blinding sun shining on her face as she tries to figure out where she is right now. Attempting to piece together the events of last night, she stretches her arm out and touches something warm next to her. Slightly freaked out, Waverly turns to see that she is laying in bed next to Nicole Haught right now. _What the hell happened last night?!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehehe....alright guys I know that was a mean place to leave off on but what did we think?! Leave a comment if we need some discussion after that crazy night for these guys!
> 
> If you want to give me compliments, yell at me for the chapter, or just need to discuss, you can always hit me up on Twitter as well! @flugge34
> 
> It will be another moment before the next chapter is out again as I literally just finished this one a couple hours ago but just as with this one, I'm hoping it will be a couple months at the most but fingers crossed for it being sooner than that!
> 
> The next chapter is going to be an interesting one to say the least.......first of all it is going to be interesting because it is going to be the first time that I really go from a chapter covering really only one event to another chapter that is really only covering one event! Chapter 3 of Sophomore Year is going to cover the annual field trip to Washington DC that the sophomore class takes!!! So not only are we going to get some of the fallout from the end of this chapter creeping into this one, but a whole lot of other things that can only take place when you get a bunch of teenagers together with little adult supervision........
> 
> Until next time Earpers! Much love!!! <3


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